A Feeling Beyond Friendship
by Becki
Summary: After the explosion Greg is in need of some support and comfort, and finds more than he anticipated in the shape of his best friend. Set just after Season Three.
1. Prologue

**A Feeling Beyond Friendship.**

**By Becki.**

**Rating:K I guess for now, but I'll let you know as I go.**

**Summary: After the explosion Greg is in need of some support and comfort, and finds more than he anticipated in the shape of his best friend.**

**Comments: Just a short idea I had while thinking about Greg. Comments would be very welcome! Set just after the third series. And a few weeks after the end of my second CSI fic All The Things You've Shown Me. You don't need to read the others to read this, although this fic references a few moments such as Warrick and Jade's marriage.  
Disclaimer: CSI characters aren't mine cries.**

Inside The Box Flashback

Grissom enters the room.

"You rang?"

"Yeah. The uh, blood flecks from the safe deposit box, two distinct samples only got one hit though. Uh...primary samples belong to Vivian Verona." His hands shake slightly as he continues to read out the results to Grissom. "Cocktail waitress. She was killed on the top floor of the old Pikes gambling hall two years ago. Here's the report."

He hands Grissom the report who then says,

"Multiple puncture wounds. Different depths, possibly two knives."

"I've pulled the crime scene photo's too." He hands them over. "Case is still pending, murder weapons never found. Now secondary blood sample came back MD – could be the killer – they say murders messy."

Grissom notices that Greg's hands are shaking as he holds the paper.

"Greg," Greg looks up at him. "Your hands are shaking."

Greg looks down at his hands to cover up his expression.

"No, they're not." He tries to stop it but can't. He looks up at Grissom, back down, then back up again hoping to cover up, but Grissom's not having any of it, and he takes the paper out of Greg's hand.

"Hold your hands up."

He does so. They are definitely shaking. Greg knows he's not going to be able to talk his way out of it.

"Uhh...they've been shaking ever since – "

He gestures to the exploded lab across the way. Grissom turns around to look at it, then back to Greg.

"Can't really make it stop."

He says looks at his hands. His voice sounded like it was almost going to break.

"Is it affecting your work?"

"If I was a bomb expert maybe." He said trying to make light of the situation, but he was no where near it. Grissom gives him a serious look. "No, I...think I have it under control."

He flexes his hands a little.

"It'll stop. If you need me I'll be around."

Greg look at him.

"'Kay."

He says, looking back at his hands and flexing them again.

**Prologue **

Sticking the key in the door, he unlocked it and pushed it open. Stepping inside he threw the keys onto the table behind the door, as he kicked it closed with his heel.

Then he just stood there taking a slow deep breath, sounding tired mentally and physically. He carefully pulled off his coat, wincing slightly as his back muscles slid over his bones, pulling his scarred skin tight, and hung his coat up next to the door.

He moved to the kitchen area, bent down carefully to the fridge and took out a bottle of beer, then went and sat down on the couch. Leaning back carefully he closed his eyes, holding the cool beer bottle to his sweat covered forehead and stayed still for a moment.

Today had been one of the longest days ever. It had been his first day back on the job and he'd practically freaked out right in front of Grissom. Funny that his hands weren't shaking so much now that he was back home. They were still shaking but it was imperceptive to most people except him, and probably Grissom now that he knew.

Grissom had told him that if he needed anyone then he'd be around. He didn't think he'd need anyone, thought he could deal with this on his own, but he was wrong. By the end of his shift he couldn't stand being there and he needed to talk to someone about these feelings.

So he'd gone to Grissom's office only to find Catherine sitting in there. Grissom wasn't there. He had his own problems to deal with.

"Anything I can help you with Greg?"

For a moment he was contemplating talking to her but then he realised that he couldn't. He couldn't talk to her of all people. Not because he blamed her, but because Greg knew she was blaming herself, even though he knew it was an accident. And adding the fact that he was having problems dealing with what had happened was like adding salt to the wound. He couldn't do that to her.

"No. No, it's cool. It wasn't important."

He'd said and left.

Now he was sitting on his own in his apartment, bursting to talk to someone. He felt like he was going to scream with the thoughts and feelings inside of him. He didn't think he'd ever be affected by something like that as much as this. So he was caught in an explosion, and thrown through a glass window, had burns all over his back and neck. People had been through worse, hadn't they? It wasn't as if he'd lost a limb, or was severely burnt all over. So why was this such a big thing? Why did he shake every time he entered work now? Why was he questioning every move he made, always checking to make sure no appliances were left on. He couldn't seem to get his head around anything and he knew that he needed to talk this through with someone, sort out all his jumbled thoughts in his head.

Making a decision he leaned forwards, grabbed the phone from the table next to the sofa and sat back with it in his lap. He looked at it, mentally going through the options. He'd rang his family and close friends to let them know what had happened and that he was okay and they had all said they'd be there for him if he needed them.

Taking a breath he dialled the number then brought the phone up to his ear. For a few moments all he heard was a constant ringing, then someone picked up. For a moment he didn't reply to their questioned greeting, then he answered quietly.

"I need you..."

TBC…

So, what do you think? Want to read some more? xx


	2. Chapter One

**Hey! Thank you everyone for those lovely reviews. Always helpful and motivating for us writers. Here's Chapter One for you. I hope you enjoy it. **

**Knadineg: Thank you, here's some more!**

**Karmine: Thank you as well! Hope this update is soon enough for ya!**

**Meghan: …It is the beginning of the story which is why it was called a prologue. :) But thank you anyway. I hope you'll continue to read. **

**Cris: Here's ya answer. **

**Chapter One**

A week had passed since Greg had called his friend and Grissom was now back at work following his operation which had been successful. He'd been worried about Greg in his absence and had asked Catherine to keep an eye on him. From what he'd heard he'd been quieter than usual but didn't seen as nervous or indecisive like he had been.

And today he'd noticed that the old Greg seemed to be back. He had this excited little school boy look on his face and nothing that had happened that day had brought him down. Grissom could still see an underlying nervousness but something was making Greg nervous in an excited way – as if something good was going to happen.

Turning into the corridor where the lab resided Grissom could already hear Greg's loud, obnoxious music blaring out. He looked through the window to see Greg drumming lightly with two pencils on some equipment on the table. He entered the room without being noticed and stopped behind him.

"Greg? GREG!"

Greg jolted in his seat as the shout penetrated his music. He stopped drumming the equipment, and turned, pressing stop on his stereo, to see Grissom standing there with a slight stern look on his face.

"Yes boss?"

He asked cheerfully. For a moment a puzzled look crossed Grissom's face. Usually when Greg was caught not working by him, he would go bright red and mumble an apology of sorts. But today he looked positively glowing. Deciding to overlook it he carried on as if nothing had happened.

"Have to got my results?"

"Sure thing – right here."

He swivelled in his seat and picked up a piece of paper, then swivelling back he stood and handed it to Grissom.

"Anything else I can do for you?"

Greg asked smiling. Grissom looked at the results and nodded to himself. Then looked up at Greg.

"No nothing, thanks."

"Well, you know where I am if you need me."

And with that he turned back round and sat, humming to himself as he labelled some test tubes. For a moment Grissom didn't know what to do. He stood there in the middle of the room just staring at Greg's back.

"Uh...Greg?"

Greg turned round, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yeah?"

Grissom suddenly realised how dumb his question sounded and changed his mind.

"Nothing."

Grissom turned and exited. Greg stared after him for a moment, then shrugged and turned his music back on, the smile still on his face.

0000000000

Out in the corridor Grissom was so busy wondering what had gotten into Greg that he didn't see Catherine standing outside his office waiting for him. He walked straight past her and opened the door.

"Uh Gris?"

He jumped, imperceptive to anyone but himself and shot a look to Catherine. Catherine stood, eyes wide, waiting for an explanation.

"You noticed anything weird about Greg lately?"

Grissom asked as he walked over to his desk and sat down with the results.

"Weird? Greg? You kidding me?"

She questioned sitting down in the seat opposite him.

"No, not in that sense. It's just...he seems...ecstatic. Not his usual um...self."

She thought for a moment, her head tilted slightly.

"Can't say that I have, no. But then again I haven't seen much of him today. Why?"

"Well, I just went to get this. "He gestured to the results. "And he was just overly cheerful and happy. And not in the 'I've found the key to your investigation within this DNA trace' kind of way."

Catherine smirked at the perfect imitation.

"Is that a crime?"

"No, it's not. It's just...maybe I'm just looking into it too much."

"Maybe you are. Anyway – you wanted to see me?"

"Oh yeah..."

0000000000

By the end of the shift Greg looked like he was on a complete high. He bounded into the changing room where Nick was collecting his items ready to go home after their long shift. Nick looked up at him, seeing the smile on his face as if he'd just won the lottery, or found the cure for all disease or something.

Greg just about skipped past him and over to his locker and opening it. He took off his lab coat as he hummed along merrily and hung it up, then took off his shirt, taking out a deodorant from his locker. Nick looked at the bandages still present on Greg's back and could see burn marks around the edges. He watched as Greg carefully sprayed the deodorant under his armpits, careful not to get any on his scars. Trying to ignore the fresh wounds he wondered what Greg was up to.

"Uh...Greg?"

Nick questioned. He looked at her as he pulled out a clean, crisp shirt from his locker.

"Yep?"

He asked, putting his shirt on.

"You got something planned for today that you haven't told us about?"

"Nope, nothing."

He said cheerfully, buttoning up the shirt and stuffing the dirty one into his bag along with the deodorant can.

"Okay," Nick started. "How many of your coffee's have you actually had today then?"

"None."

He said looking down at his watch impatiently as he closed his locker. Nick looked shocked.

"None!"

Greg looked up at Nick's startled voice and shook his head.

"So, what's got you all wired up?"

"Nothing for you to concern yourself about."

He said with a smirk, then left. Nick gave Greg's back a look, and collecting his things, followed Greg out, meeting up with Sara on the way.

"So, who's turn is it to choose where we go for breakfast? I'm starved!"

Sara said.

"Mine." Nick stated. "But first I wanna know what Greg's up to."

They caught up with Greg standing just inside by the reception desk, still looking at his watch.

"Okay Greg, spit it out."

Nick stated. Greg looked to him confused.

"Spit what out?"

He questioned looking back to the main doors. Nick wasn't sure if he was just playing dumb to avoid answering or if he'd had some brain transplant in the last day or so. Before he could say anything else Greg let out a yelp of excitement and jogged away from them. Looking stunned the two of them turned and looked to see where Greg was heading and got a small shock.

A woman had just entered the building. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was quite short – 5'2" maybe 3", had brown hair pulled up into a tidy ponytail and looked to have a slight athletic build under her simple white top, jeans and black jacket. A smile on her face mirrored Greg's as they met and hugged, his arms around her waist, hers carefully wrapped around his neck. He lifted her up off the floor and swung her around in his excitement.

Grissom and Catherine were just walking into reception and Grissom had to narrowly miss the woman's feet as they swung around towards him. Greg put her down after swinging her around once and pulled back to look at her.

"I've missed you so much."

They heard Greg say.

"I've missed you too."

She said back. They separated and immediately started to talk over one another, asking questions, answering them and listening all at the same time. No-one could understand a word of the conversation that was going on as Greg led the girl away from them, back towards his lab mumbling something about seeing where he worked.

Sara and Nick looked over at the stunned expressions of Catherine and Grissom. For a moment no-one said a word, no-one could think of anything to really say to that random moment in time.

"I guess that answers my question."

Grissom replied cryptically. His team looked at him.

"What question?"

Nick asked.

"Why Greg's been on a strange high all day."

"That pretty stranger would send anyone on a strange high."

Nick stated.

"Who do you think she is?"

Sara asked generally.

"Who knows, but she certainly seems close to Greg."

Catherine replied.

"And by the looks of things they haven't seen each other for a while either."

"Maybe she's his girlfriend?"

Sara asked. Nick shook his head.

"He told me the other day he was single."

"Sister then?"

"Greg don't have a sister."

Nick said again. Sara spoke up again.

"Maybe she's just an old friend he hasn't seen for ages."

"She did have a slight accent. "Cath put in. "Sounded British."

"It would explain why they haven't seen each other in some time."

"Maybe we should just let them be and Greg will tell you in his own time."

Grissom said before walking out of the building.

"You know maybe Gris is right. Maybe we should just leave Greg to it."

Nick said. Sara spoke.

"No way man! I'm up for solving this little mystery. Ten bucks to the person who solves it first."

"I'm in."

Cath said smiling.

"Me too."

Nick agreed.

"Think Warrick will want in on this?"

Sara asked.

"Dunno. Hey Cath when do the two lovebirds come back from their honeymoon again?"

He asked with another smirk. Warrick and Jade had been gone three weeks almost and Nick found he was missing Warrick's presence at work.

"This weekend I think. But I don't know if Warrick is going to California with Jade before coming back to work – she's got a conference down there on Monday."

"I can't believe he's married." Sara said. "I always thought you'd be the first to marry Nick."

"Me? Why me?"

He asked as they all walked out, a smile on Sara's face.

0000000000

Beth looked around his lab as he pointed everything out to her, not really interested but listening for Greg's sake. She turned her expression back to him, smiling.

"Looks like a great place to work. But I want to know how you are. I was really worried last week when you rang – are you sure you're okay?"

"All the better for seeing you. It's been too long – I've missed you."

He told her in a friendly way. She gave him another smile.

"Yeah, I've missed you too. Now sit down and let me take a look at you."

She put her hands on his shoulders gently and pushed him into a seat. He looked slightly exasperated and rolled his eyes slightly but let her do the whole 'have to see that you're okay' routine. Moving around behind him she gently pulled his shirt back slightly to see the bandages on the back of his neck, and going down his back.

"How are they healing? Any pain?"

She asked, the nurse coming out in her. She gently touched the skin around the bandage, breathing in his smell as she inwardly shivered from the feel of his smooth, tanned skin.

"The Doc says they're healing just fine. It itches a lot and only hurts if I move too quickly."

"Well, don't move too quickly then."

She joked.

"Ha ha."

He said humourlessly, but with a smile on his face. She moved back round to his front.

"But other than that, you're doing okay, right?"

Her brow furrowed slightly as she asked, concerned for his well-being. He opened his mouth to give his 'of course I'm okay' speech but closed it again, knowing he couldn't fool her.

"Better than I was." He held out his hands, only a slight tremor was noticeable. "Look, see – hardly any shaking."

She smiled.

"That's good."

"Anyway – enough of me. How was Africa? You didn't say much on the phone."

"Because I was too worried about you. Come on – I'm starving. Let's go grab a bite to eat and we can exchange stories."

He stood, agreeing to the plan and taking her hand, he led her out. She looked down at his fingers grasping her gently and smiled slightly. She'd missed his touch, his smell, his smile. Missed him more than she should. Inwardly she craved him, everything about him. She could feel the shiver run down her back as he turned her on with his innocent touch. If he knew how he affected her, knew that she loved him more than a best friend should...she had no idea how he'd react. He'd never realised, he only seen her as a friend and she had to be satisfied with that. Satisfied with the random, friendly touch, hug, kiss on the cheek. She had to make them last, to keep her going through the hard times. She took a shaky breath as he led her out the main entrance and into the car park where her car was sitting in the smouldering heat.

**Well, there ya go. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a little slow to start with but it'll get better…I hope you think so anyway!**


	3. Chapter Two

**Hey people! Sorry it's taken some time to get this chapter up. My parents went away taking the laptop with them which is where I'd written this chapter! Cheers all those that reviewed.**

**Knadineg: Hey! Sorry the chapter didn't come sooner. Hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Dybdahl: Yeah, secret crushes are kinda sad and happy at the same time aren't they. I guess you'll just have to wait until the end to see if it ever works itself out.**

**Snapefan51: Glad you like it, here's another chapter for ya.**

**Chapter Two**

After having spent the day showing her the sights, Greg directed her back to his place where they ordered Pizza and exchanged stories about Africa and the high's and low's, then he told her all about his work and everything that had happened to him. Beth had been in southern Africa helping to treat sick and injured children along with many other volunteers for 7 months and Greg found she'd changed quite a bit because of it. She was always a quiet person, not exactly shy as she always had a nice bedside manner when it came to her patients, but she was concise and only really spoke when she had something to say that she thought was relevant to the moment. Greg could always tell when she was nervous or something was bothering her because she would start to ramble and lose track of what she was trying to say. Watching her as she spoke of Africa though, Greg started to notice some of the minor changes. Even though she was chatty, friendly and was speaking quite openly about the trials and tribulations of African life, he could see something underlying her words. Something she wasn't saying, and as she spoke he realised it wasn't about what she'd seen, but something that she'd come to realise perhaps while she was over there. Whatever it was he could tell she wasn't ready to go into it yet so he left it alone. Once she had concluded her story and he started his, he noticed that she was back to her normal attentive self as she listened, and the underlying thoughts that had been bothering her were either gone or very well hidden. He made a small mental note to himself about it and put it to the side of his mind for later.

After they'd both finished their tales, they sat with the TV on in the background while drinking a cool beer in the comforting silence for a while.

"So," Greg started. "What have you got planned now that you're back? You gonna get your old job back at County General?"

"Actually I was thinking of starting fresh somewhere new."

She said with a smirk on her face. Greg knew she was hiding something.

"Where?"

He asked suspiciously.

"Well, I've been offered a few jobs across the country because of good references from a couple of the Docs I worked with out in Africa..."

She stopped, teasingly.

"And...?"

"And I thought long and hard and finally decided on Desert Palm."

His face lit up with excitement, he'd suspected that was what she was going to say and now he knew for sure.

"You're moving to Vegas! This is fantastic! It's gonna be like old times again! Congratulations!"

He gave her a hug, then pulled away to smile at her. She smiled back at his excitement, but it didn't completely meet her eyes. The old times had been great, but she was hoping it wouldn't be like that. She'd been very much one of the lads when she was younger, and he'd always treated her as such. Half the time she figured Greg had actually forgotten she was in fact a woman. It was like he still saw her as the young tom boy she used to be – climbing trees, getting dirty, wrestling with him. But even though she could still be that tom boy, it wasn't her anymore. Her experiences in Africa had shown her how short life was, how you should go for what you want.

She made the decision that the next time they decided to go out, she was going to wear a dress or skirt – something she rarely did. Maybe that would show him she was still a woman.

She looked at him to find he was looking at her. For a moment, he noticed, that look was back in her eyes but disappeared quickly. He wondered again about what it was that was bothering her, it obviously seemed to be something that had to do with Africa but she hadn't mentioned anything. She frowned at his intent look.

"What?"

She asked. Knowing that she when was ready to speak of it, she would, he changed the subject.

"Want the last slice?"

He asked gesturing to the pizza with a small glint in his eye. She could tell he wanted it.

"No, it's okay, you go ahead. I can tell you want it."

She said with a smirk.

"Good, you'd have broken my heart if you'd have said yes!"

He said as he picked up it and took a bite out of it. She laughed and watched as he started watching the TV, a slight smile was playing at his lips as he watched some old episode of The Simpsons, then he laughed – a wonderful sound to her ears, and he looked at her.

"Man I love this episode!"

She started to laugh back, pretending she'd been watching, then turned back to the TV.

The taxi pulled up to a stop and Jade looked out of the window at Warrick's apartment, happy to be home, but sad that the honeymoon was over. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked around.

"Home sweet home."

Warrick said with a smile. Jade gave him a smile back and they both got out, took their bags from the driver as he unloaded the trunk and slowly headed up the walkway to his front door. Placing the bags down, Warrick took out his key and unlocked the door. Turning back to Jade he spoke.

"Wait here a second."

He said taking the bags inside. Jade frowned.

"Why?"

Warrick came back out, took the bags Jade was holding and placed them into the hall as well.

"What are you doing?"

She asked as he came back out to her.

"It's tradition." He said, sweeping her off her feet and into his arms. Jade laughed. "I'm gonna carry you over the threshold."

"How romantic of you! Should be easier here than when you tried on the Constellation!"

She said with a smirk.

"Well, the thought was there."

He said, stepping through the doorway. The Constellation was the cruise ship they'd been on. They'd had the honeymoon suite aboard but unfortunately the doorways on the cruise ship weren't the biggest around and it ended up being more of a piggy back through, but Jade found it romantic all the same.

He took her into the living room, then sat down onto the sofa with her sitting on his lap. They both sunk down, their muscles relaxing and silently sighed. The trip home had been long and tiring and they were both jetlagged.

"Well, Mrs. Brown. Looks like we're back to reality."

Warrick said. Jade murmured an agreement, taking a look around the room at the boxes of her things that hadn't got unpacked before they went away. It wasn't due to time, it was the fact that there just wasn't enough room in the place.

"What are we going to do with all of those?"

She asked, gesturing towards the boxes with her head.

"Throw them away?" He said teasingly. She elbowed him playfully in the ribs at the comment to which he feigned pain. "I know what you mean, this place is just crowded with both our things. I guess we'll just have to look for a bigger place."

She looked to him.

"But you love living here. It's the perfect distant from work and everything."

"Yeah, but I love you more."

She smiled at that and gave him a kiss.

"I love you too."

They relaxed once more and sat there in comfortable silence for a while, thinking up ideas about moving before Jade spoke once again.

"I should ring Gil, let him know we got home safely."

She went to stand but felt Warrick's hands on her hips, pulling her back onto the sofa.

"Not yet. Technically speaking we're still on our honeymoon, and that makes you all mine for the time being."

She smiled again, put her arms around his neck and kissed him once more.

"So," Greg started, sitting back on the sofa and handing Beth another bottle. "When do you start the job at Desert Palm?"

"In a few weeks depending on how quick I can find a place to live."

"That soon?"

He questioned amazed.

"Yeah. It's all moved very quickly and I'd already planned to come down and visit to let you know but you rang me first."

"I'll keep my eyes open for apartments for you. By the way, where are you staying tonight?"

She smiled.

"Well, I was hoping I could crash on your sofa."

He smirked back.

"That's just what I was thinking."

"Thanks. I'll just go grab my bag."

She stood and headed out the front door and to the rental car for her overnight bag she'd brought with her. While she was gone Greg pulled out the sofa bed and found a blanket and pillow for her. When she returned he asked her how long she was staying, having noticed the quite small overnight bag.

"Only until tomorrow afternoon actually. I've got to get back for work on Thursday – it's my last couple of days."

Greg looked sad that it wasn't for longer, which Beth secretly loved. But he was also happy that she would be there to come with him to the hospital appointment which also meant she could get a look about the place she was to be working.

"Just the one night? I was hoping you'd be here a couple days longer. I've got two days off now to fit in some hospital check-ups and such."

"In a few weeks I'll be here permanently and then you'll be hoping my visit was shorter!"

She joked.

"Nah, never!"

He said playfully elbowing her arm as they smiled at each other.

The next morning, Grissom was just having breakfast when the doorbell rang. He looked up from his entomology book, frowning slightly. He wasn't expecting anyone, and if it was someone he knew, they'd know he'd be going to bed soon. He stood, placing his book on the table next to his plate of toast and headed over to the door to open it.

"Surprise!"

Jade said smiling at a surprised Grissom.

"Jade!" He opened the door further to let her in. "I didn't think you were coming back until this evening!"

"Got back yesterday afternoon actually, but we've been sleeping off the jet-lag or I'd have seen you sooner. Thought I'd catch you before you go to bed instead."

She said as she sat down at the table and nicked a piece of his toast. He gave her a 'nick my toast again and I'll break bones' look, before sitting back down in his seat. She laughed slightly at the look.

"Did you have a good time?"

"Fantastic." She said with a beaming smile on her face. "It was perfect. Gorgeous weather, no hassles, no lost luggage or anything. I'm kinda sad to be back."

"It's the beginning of the rest of your life, know what you're gonna do yet?"

He asked her.

"I have a few ideas. The main one being that I really want to write a book."

"Yeah?"

He questioned looking up at her. He'd never thought she'd wanted to be a writer in any way.

"Yeah. On forensics, obviously, for beginners. Just remembering what our first year books were like at university, some of them were dire. I think I could do better. And the sooner I write it, the fresher the book will be – I mean, I can remember clearly what I thought about our study books and what I'd have changed to make them easier to understand so the sooner I write it the better job I think I can do making it right for first year students – I know I'm rambling but I'm sure you know what I mean, right?"

He nodded with a smile.

"Yeah I do. Well, if it's what you want then go for it. But what are you going to do in the meantime?"

"Teach. At the moment a crime lab doesn't interest me, but teaching does. I've looked into a couple places and my old uni have asked me to do a couple lectures, as well as a few places round here. There's quite a few interested parties for teachers so I don't think I'll run out of work, and I can set them when I want so I can work them around my writing."

"Sounds like you've really thought this through."

She nodded.

"I have, yeah. Rick makes a good sounding board. So what do you think?"

"It sounds like it's something you have a real interest in doing which means you'll do a good job at it. If it'll make you happy and by the looks of things, it will, then I think you should go for it."

Jade smiled, happy that she'd gotten Gil's approval and gave a contented sigh.

**TBC…**


	4. Chapter Three

**So so sorry it's taken me so long to post another chapter! So much has happened of late what with work and moving out and not having the internet anymore!! Very crazy! Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Xx **

**Snapefan51: Here's the more you've been looking forward to! Sorry it's taken forever!**

**Knadineg: Sorry to keep you waiting anxiously for the next chapter! Bad Becki! Patience and you'll soon find out the story xx**

**Chapter Three**

Nick and Greg collapsed onto the sofa they had just put down in the living room, exhausted but happy. Beth and Sara entered the room and placed the boxes they were carrying down.

"Come on you two! There's still more boxes to do!"

Beth said to them. Greg groaned.

"Oh, Beth, there can't be that much left! We've lugged more stuff than there's room for in here!"

Beth threw a pillow at him and he groaned mildly when it hit him in the stomach.

"Stop complaining you lazy sod. Just be thankful you didn't have to pack it all into the van in the first place! Besides there's only about half a dozen boxes left and I know for a fact that there's beer stocked in one of them!"

With that Nick was up.

"A beer sounds good to me!"

He replied and headed out the door with Sara. Greg held his hand out towards Beth with a pathetic look on his face. Beth gave him a look but took his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on, the sooner we get down there, the sooner you'll be back on the sofa with a cool beer in your hand."

"Amen to that."

He replied and headed on down the stairs.

Three weeks had passed since she last been down and in that time they found a flat that was only a few blocks from the hospital which was ideal for her, and Greg had persuaded Sara and Nick to help her settle in on their day off. She was starting work on Monday and today was Friday; Greg had planned a welcoming meal for her for Saturday evening and she was really looking forward to it. Having spent the last half a year out in Africa she hadn't been for a night out with Greg in she couldn't remember how long.

Placing the very last of the boxes on the kitchen unit, Beth opened up one of them and rummaged around. Finding the beer bottles she handed them around before taking a seat on the floor in the living room.

"To Beth. Welcome to Las Vegas."

Nick said holding his bottle up. Beth smiled and clinked bottles with them all before taking a mouthful.

"Thank you for taking time out from your day to help me move in. It's very much appreciated."

Beth said to them. Sara gave her a smile.

"Your welcome. So, who's coming to this meal tomorrow?"

"I'm not completely sure, Greg's planned it."

They looked up to Greg who was sitting on the sofa with Nick while Sara and Beth were sitting on the floor.

"Well, there's us four, Catherine and Warrick as well, and a couple of Beth's friends that work at the hospital."

"Sounds like it's gonna be a good night."

Nick stated and the others agreed. Beth looked up and smiled as she watched them sitting comfortably in her new home. She was really looking forward to tomorrow evening.

-----------------------------

"I love it." Jade said turning to Warrick. "It's gorgeous. And it's a lovely neighbourhood and close to work. What do you think?"

She asked him. They'd been shown around dozens of homes, and none had interested them except this one. It was a bungalow in a relatively quiet area of Vegas and had plenty of room for all of their belongings. It was a two bedroom place with a pleasantly bright hallway, a spacious living room and a kitchen with a breakfast bar and room for a nice sized dining table. The bathroom was also a nice size and hosted a bath as well as a shower. It was quite a modern style which suited them both.

"I think...that the second bedroom would make a great study." He smiled. "Let's do it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

She swung her arms around his neck and cheered. He laughed at her excitement, lifting her off the floor for a moment to hug her, then put her back down.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go put a deposit down before you have to catch your flight."

Jade was taking a trip to California that weekend for a small reunion with old friends and to talk to her lecturers for research for her book.

"I can't believe you're leaving me for a whole weekend!"

Warrick said feinting sadness. Jade punched him playfully.

"I'm sure you'll cope. Besides you've been invited out to a welcoming party tomorrow night haven't you? Greg's friend, Beth isn't it?"

"That's not the point. It won't be the same without you there."

"I'll be back before you know it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder an all that."

"Hm."

Was all Warrick said to that as he pulled Jade in for a kiss.

-----------------------------------

Her feet were killing her but she didn't care. She was having a great time. She smiled at Sara who was dancing alongside her and then over to Ben and Callum, her friends from Desert Palm that she'd met out in Africa. They'd had a really nice meal with good company and good conversation. She was getting on really well with Greg's friends from work and had caught up with all the news from her two friends from the hospital. Afterwards they'd gone onto a club minus Catherine who had to go pick Lindsey up from a party at her friends.

As Beth had decided long before, she'd worn a black skirt and white top with white sandals, hoping to catch Greg's eye. It had sort of worked as well, he'd certainly stared at her, told her she was looking really nice, and then had said she'd be getting some appreciative looks from men tonight to which she laughed and secretly hoped he'd be one of them.

She looked over to their table where she'd last seen Greg chatting with Warrick and found Warrick sitting alone. She frowned, looking about until she spotted him over at the bar. She headed over, putting a hand on his shoulder making him turn, and when he saw who it was he smiled at her.

"I've had a great evening. Thank you for setting this up."

"Glad to hear it. It's good to have you back so we can go out for a laugh like we used to."

He turned back to the bar as the barmaid came over with the drinks. Picking one up he turned to Beth, handed her the drink and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Welcome to Vegas."

He picked his own drink up, leaving Warrick's sitting on the bar, and chinked glasses with Beth who could feel herself blushing at the kiss. Giving herself a mental kick she mumbled a thanks and took a long drink from the glass. It was her favourite – Malibu and coke. She looked away and over to where Sara and her friends were still dancing. Nick had now joined them, having disappeared to chat up some woman. She could feel the alcohol working it's way through her system, giving her a courage she would not normally have. She turned back to Greg with the thought of telling him finally how she felt for him, and found him flirting with the redhead behind the bar that had served him. She stopped herself and looked down at the bar, her courage drained in an instant and pooling at her feet on the floor. She had to move away. She picked up Warrick's drink and headed back to the table. As she left she heard Greg's voice reach her ears.

"No, she's just a friend."

Beth mentally kicked herself again, asking herself what she had expected. After so many years it was unlikely Greg was going to feel anything for her and all she would do by telling him how she felt would be to ruin a perfectly good friendship and make the both of them so awkward around each other that they'd finally stop being friends altogether. Pulling herself together as she reached the table, she put a smile on her face.

"Hey."

Beth greeted as she sat and handed Warrick his drink. Warrick gave her a smile.

"Hey, where's Greg?"

"Flirting at the bar."

She said, hiding her feelings. Warrick laughed.

"Nothing new there then."

"No. So...where's the missus tonight?"

She asked, gesturing to the wedding band on his finger. He glanced down at it, a smile playing at his lips.

"Jade's down in California this weekend, catching up with some old friends and getting some research together for a book she's writing."

"Yeah? Good for her. I don't think I could ever write a book. On forensics I take it?"

"Yeah."

"Greg told me you've been looking for a bigger place, any luck yet? I was lucky we found my place quite quickly otherwise I think I'd have gone mad with looking."

"I know exactly what you mean, we must have been around dozens of places. But we found one yesterday that was perfect and we've put a deposit on it."

"That's wonderful. Oh, and congratulations on your marriage, Greg said that you hadn't been married long."

"Thanks." He beamed. She could see love glinting in his eyes and felt a tiny pang of jealously. "So what about you and Greg, how long have you known each other?"

We've been friends since kindergarten."

"Wow, long time."

She smiled.

"Yeah. Don't think there's anything I don't know about him."

"You should get a medal for putting up with his antics for so long."

Warrick said as he watched Greg up at the bar. Beth laughed.

"Ah, I'm used to it by now. Besides, he's not too bad when he's not trying to impress you. In fact he's quite sensitive, although he'd never show it – don't tell him I told you that!"

Warrick laughed at that. He could hear a lot of caring in her voice and saw her eyes sparkle when she spoke of him.

"You two ever dated?"

He asked, seeing that they could make a pretty good couple. She merely shook her head and looked down at her glass for a moment before taking a sip. Warrick could see that it was a bit of a difficult topic so he backed away slightly. He was thinking up a new topic, possibly about her work, when Sara, Nick and the Doctors all came over and sat down, exhausted but smiling.

"Having a good time?"

Warrick asked Sara and Nick.

"Yeah it's been a brilliant night."

Nick said.

"It has." Sara agreed. "Although I think I'm just about ready to drop. I can't believe it's already 1.30am." Beth looked slightly shocked that the time had passed so quickly as Sara carried on. "I've danced my feet to shreds. Remind me next time not to wear new shoes out until I've worn them in!"

Beth laughed, agreeing with her.

"Hey guys!"

Greg said bounding over like a puppy. He slouched down beside Beth, with a mild grimace as he'd forgotten about his almost healed burns.

"Hey, I lost you back there for a bit. Where'd ya go?"

"Well, I figured you didn't need my help flirting with that redhead so I came to keep Warrick company."

"Oh yeah, sorry about that – she was kinda cute though."

Beth took another long sip from her drink. She hated it when he spoke like that around her, but at the same time him being here with them meant he hadn't succeeded in pulling her. She didn't think she could handle him pulling a girl on her welcoming party.

--------------------------------------

Sunday afternoon Greg had promised Beth that he'd help her arrange her apartment furniture and go and buy any items she would be needing. They'd planned to meet at about 2ish and she was picking him up from work as he needed to go in for a few hours to sort some work out. So at 2pm on the dot, Beth was parking her car in the headquarters to the CSI building. She was always on time when she'd planned to meet up with people, she'd been like it ever since she was young, and as always, she knew she'd be sitting waiting for Greg to appear about 15 minutes late and sure enough Greg entered the main reception where she was waiting at almost dead on quarter past. Greg gave her a smile. He was looking rather tired from having to get up early after a night out. Beth on the other hand was feeling rather alive and fresh as she'd gone for a jog that morning to wake herself up.

"Sorry, got held up."

She gave him a smile.

"I figured. Hope you're feeling strong today, I need to buy a washing machine."

A groan escaped Greg's lips as they left the building. Beth hid her smirk.

"A washing machine?! I can barely hold my own weight today! I feel dead"

"Well, it'll only take a couple hours and if you remember I promised to cook dinner for you tonight in thanks."

Greg smiled at her, he'd forgotten that part.

"My favourite?"

He asked hopefully.

"Your favourite."

She acknowledged as she saw a happy smile spread over his face.

They reached the car and Beth unlocked it from the passenger side as it was closest to let Greg in. As she was moving around the car to the drivers side a car on the main road backfired in the relative quiet of a Sunday afternoon, followed very quickly by a short cry of shock and fear, making her jump. The cry had come from Greg and she looked back to see him standing stock still beside the car, his hand still on the handle of the open door. His eyes were mildly glazed and unfocused and Beth felt a jolt of fear hit her stomach as she moved back around the car. She'd never seen Greg act like this in all the time she'd known him.

"Greg?" She questioned as she reached him. She didn't get any reaction so she put a hand on his arm saying his name again. "Greg?"

He jumped and stared at her, as if noticing her for the first time. Close up, Beth could see how much he'd paled.

"Here, sit down."

She pulled the door open further and made him turn around to sit down in the car. He moved as if in a daze and once he was sitting he placed his head in his hands.

"Are you okay? Greg?"

She bent down in front of him and put her hands on his arms. For a moment he was silent, then he spoke quietly.

"I'm fine. I'm fine."

He wasn't fine, he was still mildly shaking.

"No, you're not. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. It's cool. Shall we go?"

He asked looking up at her, trying to move past the moment quickly.

"It's not nothing. Come on Greg, if you can't tell me what's wrong, then who can you eh?" After a pause she added. "Is this about the explosion?"

He nodded quietly.

"It's stupid, but when that car backfired, I just, I thought, it's crazy."

He said shaking his head.

"You thought it was an explosion again?"

"Yeah. And I sort of had a...a..."

"Flashback?"

He nodded.

"Okay, hon, okay. Let's just get back to mine okay? I'll get the kettle on and we can have a drink and a chat. That sound okay?"

He nodded again and turned to sit properly in the car. He'd had a bit of a shock and needed to calm down before he could talk about it. She closed the car door and moved round to the drivers side keeping her eyes on Greg. As she got in she felt a hand on her leg and looked over.

"Thank you. I'm glad you're here."

She smiled.

"Me too."

**Well? What do you think? Comments always welcome. xx**


	5. Chapter Four

**Hello people! Aren't you lucky! A chapter so close to the last one! I'm really trying to get this finished for you. I already know where this story is going and have written quite a few scenes so it just needs all tying together and made pretty for you, so shouldn't be too long now. **

**gregfan: Thank you for the review. That's quite a good idea! Thanks! May utilise it, depending on if i can get it to fit, i can see that it could. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**Knadineg: Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint! Enjoy!**

**HyperSquishy: He he! That's a cool idea! Can you imagine Greg's face!** (Writer goes off into little fantasty world where she's playing Beth seducing Greg...)

**Chapter Four**

The next few weeks passed as normal for Beth after the incident with Greg. They'd had a long chat about it and his fears and he'd been a lot more himself again the past week, which was a bit of a relief for her because it was always kind of crazy when you moved to a new city and had a new job, a new home, new friends. It was always going to be tough, she knew that, but she also knew she could handle it, especially after everything Africa had thrown at her for the last eight months. Plus this time she had her best friend around to help her through, even though he had his own demons to deal with. She found it a comforting distraction, someone so familiar in unfamiliar territory and she was only thankful that she could help him through it all. She also had a few friends at Desert Palm who she'd found very helpful over the past couple weeks and made it easier to settle in at work. All the people there were great to work with and she'd also kept in touch with Sara and Cath and could see that she was going to be happy being in this new city. She'd managed to juggle all areas of her life quite well so far; work, social, family, health etc. The only area that seemed to be at a standstill was her love life. And no matter what she did to try and rectify it, nothing seemed to work. She'd tried moving on from Greg, making her see him as just a friend and treating him as such, but then he'd do something unexpected and she just find herself yearning to be with him and she just couldn't brush aside her feelings. She honestly didn't know what to do about it, except for telling him outright, because hints just didn't seem to work with this guy. Or any guy for that matter, she realised with a smile.

She finally made up her mind to tell him by Christmas, which was fast approaching as it was the beginning of December. She'd already been invited to Greg's staff Christmas party, which she was really looking forward to, because Christmas parties meant dancing and drinking and mistletoe. The thought scared her but she didn't think she could go on much longer without saying anything, he sent tingles up and down her body every time she saw him and he was always happy to see her. She kicked herself at the thought, she'd managed to go for years without her crush affecting them whatsoever, in fact most of the time she put it behind her but something had happened to her in Africa. She'd had a revelation about life, that it was too short for regret and not saying what you wanted to say before it was too late, and she knew that no matter what happened between them it would have been the right decision to tell him because she wouldn't have been able to live with the regret.

------------------------------------------

The party arrived quickly and Beth made every effort to be really noticed by Greg. He said he'd arranged for them to get a lift to the party with Nick and his date so he said he'd meet her at her place.

She buzzed to let him into the building, then pulled her door ajar for when he got up to her floor before going back into the bedroom to check on her appearance.

"Hey Beth, you ready?"

She heard from the door.

"Yeah, be right there."

She called back. She took a breath to settle her nerves and walked out of her bedroom and into the living room. Greg was standing with his back to her looking out the window.

"I'm ready."

She said. He turned around and stared at her. She was wearing a slinky dress that was just tight enough to show her curves but not so tight that it didn't leave anything to the imagination, it was a sparkling black and fell to just above her knees with a soft flowing bounce. The top of the dress came quite high up in a holterneck style and hung quite low down her back. She's curled her wavy brown hair and let it hang down her back and shoulders freely. On her feet she had simple gold heeled sandals that matched with the gold of her bag and her jewellery.

She watched him staring at her at the same time taking in his appearance and finding a familiar bolt of longing shoot down her spine. He was dressed in a black suit including black shirt and had a red tie tied loosely around his neck with the top button still undone. He looked very fetching and she completely forgot about watching his reaction at her own appearance for a few moments.

"Well? Am I presentable?"

She asked. He finally got his mouth working.

"You look really nice, I've never seen you wearing anything like this before – you're definitely gonna pull tonight wearing that. I know a few single men that'll be there if you want me to introduce you to any of them."

It wasn't exactly the reaction she was hoping for but at least he'd noticed her appearance and maybe he'll be the single man she pulls. She could hope at any rate.

"So, how am I looking?" He asked her, posing slightly. "Tasty enough for that lab girl to look my way?"

Oh, the lab girl. Beth had forgotten about her. Greg had mentioned her a couple weeks ago but hadn't said anything since. It sounded like he had his own crush going on to even notice her. She hid her sadness and smiled at him.

"Definitely tasty enough."

------------------------------------------

The party was in full swing when they arrived and they were greeted by lots of friendly faces. Christmas music was blasting out of the music system in the corner of the large room, next to the dance floor. There was a bar over to the right of the room and the left wall was just buffet tables full of food. The walls and ceiling were covered in Christmas decorations of every colour and style and streamers and party poppers were being thrown and popped all around the room as everyone got in the Christmas spirit. Cath noticed how nice Beth was looking and told her so with a hidden smile. Beth looked at Greg who also greeted Cath and then glanced about the place. She was about to move over to where she could see Sara standing just of the dance area to say hello when she felt Greg tug at her arm. She looked at him, but he was looking off to the right of the room.

"What's wrong?"

She asked. He lifted an arm and pointed.

"That's her, that lab girl I was telling you about, Cassie."

Beth looked where he was pointing and saw a very tall, long legged blonde laughing with some colleagues. Beth tried desperately to take interest but her confidence had just hit rock bottom at the sight of this buxom blonde he was pointing to.

"So, do you think I should go and talk to her?"

"Yeah. Go and talk. Go and flirt."

She said shortly. He laughed, not hearing the sarcasm in her voice and gave her a small playful punch to the arm.

"You're great, thanks. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I was just gonna go see Sara."

"Cool."

He gave her arm a squeeze and wandered off in the lab girls direction.

An hour later and Greg was still off somewhere chatting to Nick and Warrick who were both placing bets against Greg being able to pull the lab chick, while Greg was adamant that he would manage it tonight, that he was just biding his time. Beth took a look at him and sighed slightly before finding her way to one of the tables in the room and taking a seat, resting her feet from dancing with Sara. Greg had been over to check she was okay a couple times but hadn't stopped to chat or dance or anything as of yet. Cath noticed Beth having sat down and decided to join her. She moved over and took a seat next to her with a smile.

"You having a good time?"

She asked Beth who gave her a smile and nodded.

"Yeah, it's been fun so far, although I'm not sure how much more dancing my feet can take, I don't think I've stopped since I've been here."

Cath laughed.

"Yeah, I noticed you and Sara up on the dance floor."

Beth smiled and took another glance towards Greg.

"I notice Greg hasn't been dancing yet."

"No." Beth agreed, trying not to make it too obvious that she was staring at him. "I guess he's been too busy socialising with everyone."

"By everyone I guess you mean Cassie, right?"

Cath said, knowing what was bugging her. Beth blushed slightly.

"I think practically everyone here knows he's been trying to flirt with her, except Cassie of course, very intelligent girl when it comes to work, but not so bright at everyday things, you know what I mean?"

Beth nodded, she knew a few doctors like that, very good at their jobs but when it came to normal activities that most people could perform in their sleep, they just seemed to lose it somewhere along the line.

Cath sat and watched the emotions play out on Beth's face as she thought. She knew that look, knew it very well and the suspicions she'd had since she'd met Beth were confirmed.

"You love him don't you."

Beth's eyes darted to her, for a moment she looked shocked, as if she'd been caught red handed, then she went blank faced.

"What? Who?"

Cath smiled.

"You know who I mean."

Beth kept the blank face for a few moments more before she gave in.

"Of course I love him, I've always loved him. How did you know?"

"I'm a CSI. It's my job to notice these things."

Beth smiled.

"I guess so. Doesn't bode well for Greg being a CSI."

"He doesn't know then?"

"You kidding me – he's blind as a bat. He's never known. You know Greg – too interested in all those types," she gestured to Cassie. "to see what's under his nose."

She looked down, a sad expression crossing her face. Cath smiled gently at her for a moment.

"Why don't you tell him?"

"I can't. I've tried, but he just never gets it, and plus I think half of me doesn't want to tell him, because I know it'll ruin our friendship, especially because he isn't likely to feel the same way anyway."

"How do you know he doesn't?"

"Because he'd have said or done something by now. That's Greg for you, always jumping in with two feet. He doesn't do anything by halves."

Cath smiled at how well she had Greg down, she must know him inside out.

"That's certainly true."

She replied, and looked over at Greg, he was chatting with Cassie and looking very happy. Cath glanced at Beth to see her looking downcast.

"You alright?"

Beth gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, should be used to it by now. It's the worst thing, you know. Being in love with someone who doesn't love you back. Just a lonely place to be." She paused and looked at them again. "I think I'm gonna go get some air, it's really hot in here."

"You want some company?"

Cath asked her. Beth smiled again, a grateful expression in her eyes.

"Thanks, but I'll be alright."

She stood and headed for the door that lead up to the roof of the building they'd hired out for the party. As she reached the door she heard her name and saw Greg coming over to her smiling.

"Hey where you going? You having a good time?"

"Yeah, it's fun. Been dancing with Sara most of the time. I was just gonna go get some air."

"Cool yeah, sorry I haven't been over to chat much."

She gave a nod in acknowledgement.

"That's okay. Maybe we can get a Christmas dance later?"

He smiled.

"Sounds good. How bout your favourite Christmas song. Shakin' Stevens isn't it?"

He asked, performing a little boogie with his body as he said it. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind for dance, she was thinking more along the lines of Sinatra and Crosby, but she smiled all the same.

"Yeah, it is."

"Hey Greg."

They looked over at Nick approaching. He paused and smiled at them, then looked up.

"Hey, do you guys know you're standing under mistletoe?"

They both looked up and sure enough, there was a sprig of mistletoe above their heads. Beth looked at Greg who looked at Nick.

"Well, kiss her then, it is tradition."

Greg laughed and turned to Beth with a smile.

"Merry Christmas."

He said and putting his hands on her shoulders he pulled her towards him and gave her a smacking kiss on the lips. He pulled back and smiled at her, his eyes intent for a moment before they opened up as if he'd realised something. Beth held her breath for a moment reeling from the electricity she'd felt and she wondered if this could be the moment she'd been waiting for until Greg turned to Nick with an excited look on his face.

"I bet I can trick Cassie into standing under here."

She heard Greg say and she looked up at him, feeling a sudden spring of tears well up from nowhere, that she couldn't completely explain as she was still feeling her lips tingling from his touch.

Beth looked away to see Cath looking at her in concern and mouthed 'are you okay'. Beth nodded with a smile before proceeding out of the door.

--------------------------------------------

Beth walked out onto the top of the building who was host to a swimming pool and a fantastic view of Vegas. It was cold but she didn't care. She could still feel the tears prickling at the back of her eyes and she was trying desperately not to let them fall. She couldn't do it, she couldn't tell him. She'd been so confident in her decision to just tell him outright but after seeing that look in his eyes she knew now that nothing would ever happen between them. For that split second after he'd kissed her, her heart had soared at the look, and then when he'd spoken if felt as if he'd just taken her heart and smashed it on the ground. How could he toy with her emotions like this, she thought angrily as she felt the rage rising in her before sinking back down when logic came into play. He didn't have any clue as to how she was feeling so it wasn't as if it was his fault really, how he was treating her. He was just acting like he'd always done around her, like a friend, joking with her, playing with her, having a laugh together. Except this time he was the only one having the laugh and it was in no way his fault that she wasn't laughing with him. Except that it was. Why did he have to be like he was? Why did he have to act like he did? And enjoy the same things as she did? And why did she have to find him so...so nice and appealing and attractive both physically and mentally. All he'd have to do is smile at her and she was up in the clouds. Somehow, over the past few weeks, her love for him had become so unbearable it had ruled her life, it had made her think that the only way to deal with it had been to just tell him. But now...especially after tonight she realised that it was never going to happen. The thought brought the tears back and this time she didn't stop them slide down her face. There was only one way to deal with this...and it was to leave.

---------------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later and Greg hadn't had much luck with getting Cassie to the door, she was too busy having fun on the dance floor. Greg's ears suddenly pricked when he heard Merry Christmas Everyone come blasting out of the speakers and he looked around for Beth so they could get that dance he'd promised her.

"Hey Cath, have you seen Beth. This is our song."

"She went up for some air."

"Cheers."

He said before heading to the door. He thought she'd have been back down by now. He walked out onto the roof, which was host to a swimming pool and some tables and chairs. Glancing around he spotted Beth standing over by the edge of the swimming pool. He headed over towards her.

"Hey Beth."

She jumped like a shot and whirled around. When she saw who it was she relaxed slightly, glad that she's made herself strong and stopped the tears before he'd turned up.

"Greg. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that. Damn near gave me a heart attack."

Greg smirked at catching her off guard.

"Sorry. Thought I'd come find you because our songs playing down there."

"Okay."

She said, not making any attempt to move.

"What'cha doing out here anyway?"

"Just getting some air. Plus look at the view – you must be able to see half of Vegas from here."

"It is a beautiful sight, eh?"

He said looking out. She nodded, staring at him, then she looked down sadly and shivered as a breeze blew. She wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep herself warm. Greg glanced across at her and saw her tremble.

"Oh – here."

He said taking off his jacket and placing it around her shoulders.

"Thanks."

She said. She could smell his aftershave on the collar of his jacket, it was delicious. Suddenly Greg placed his hands on her upper arms and started to rub them up and down to warm her. She shivered at the touch and closed her eyes. Greg took the shiver to mean she was still cold so he hugged her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. Her eyes opened in shock and she shivered again from something other than the weather.

"What – what are you doing?"

She asked, standing stock still.

"Trying to warm you up, plus keep myself warm – being a gentlemen can be quite a cold job at times." He laughed. "Why?"

She looked back down, her hopes dashed for the last time. She couldn't take any more of this, she had to act now before she was too far gone. She had to get away.

"No reason."

She felt a lump in her throat as she knew that she had the arms of the man she loved around her and there was nothing she could do about it. She pulled away, shocking him, and handed his jacket back.

"Let's get back to the party."

Greg stood for a moment, a confused look on his face as he watched her walk away, then followed her in, something twitching at the back of his mind like a warning bell from a distance that he couldn't quite make out.

**Well? Do you like? Things are hotting up! Can't wait for you guys to read the next chapter! **


	6. Chapter Five

**Hey guys and gals. I'm so so sorry it's taken me so long to update. Been rather hectic of late what with moving back home, and just now sorting out to move out again! Crazy! Anyway, here's the next chapter. I really hope you like it and please let me know what you think.**

**snapefan51:** I know, poor Beth, Greg better get a clue soon or it'll be too late for him!!! Hope you like the chapter.

**Dream Fearrie**: Really hope to keep you waiting so long. Please enjoy the chapter. :)

****

**Chapter Five**

In her lunch break on Christmas eve, Beth headed to her friends office. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door and waited until she heard the quiet 'come in', before she opened it and entered. She knew what this meeting was about. Her boss and friend Michael was sitting behind his desk and he gestured for her to sit.

"What's this?"

He asked holding up a letter. He got straight down to business as usual, she thought with a small hidden smile.

"My notice."

"Why?"

"Because I have to hand one in a month in advance before I leave."

He gave her a look. She was being evasive on purpose.

"You know what I mean. Why are you leaving?"

"I've decided to go back to Africa."

He frowned at her answer.

"But you haven't been back long. I thought you were happy here."

"I was – I am, I just, I feel there's still more for me to do over there."

He frowned at her again.

"What are you hiding?"

"What do you mean?"

"Beth, stop being evasive, why are you really leaving?"

"I told you."

"And I'm calling your bluff. You're not very good at lying – which is a compliment by the way."

She didn't reply.

"Is it work?"

"No. No, I love working here."

"Then what? The location? The people? A bloke?"

Her face gave her away.

"You're not the type to run away Beth."

"I'm not running away."

"Then what are you doing? Beth, Africa was more than tough, but do you really think it'll be easier to deal with than whatever it is you're trying to leave behind?"

"It has to be. I survived 8 months out there. I don't think I can do that here."

He watched her for a long time before answering.

"You're being serious." He realised. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah."

"It's against by better judgement."

"I know. Thank you."

"Just to let you know I'm putting you down as on sabbatical. So then if you change your mind there will still be a job here for you."

She nodded.

"Oh, and while I think about it, I'm free to work boxing day if you need me."

He gave a nod.

"Brilliant. I'll put you down for it."

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Ever since they were little Greg and Beth had always spend boxing day together. Out of nearly 20 years, they'd only missed one or two. He'd been looking forward to it even more this year as they'd missed last years, plus the fact that he'd hardly seen her since the Christmas party. She always seemed to be working. He knew for definite that she had Christmas off this year because she was working new year, plus the fact that her grandparents were coming down to see her Christmas day, so he got a shock on Christmas eve when she rang up to let him know she wouldn't be able to make boxing day.

"But you're working new year, why are they making you work boxing day?"

It was a moment before he heard her voice.

"There's a few people gone ill from food poisoning so they asked me to step in."

She lied. There had been a few go down from food poisoning but they'd had plenty to cover.

He'd accepted the reason but he wasn't happy with it. Something was off with her, he could tell it in her voice but when he asked her about it she'd said that she was okay, just tired from a hard day at work. And when he'd asked about her next day off she lied again and said it wasn't until the new year.

The day after boxing day and Greg was back at work. He'd only heard from Beth once over Christmas and boxing day and that was a simple Merry Christmas text. So when he spotted Cath wander past the lab, he called her in.

"Have you heard from Beth lately?"

"Not lately no, but I know they've been really busy at work. Why?"

"I don't know. It's just, she's been really distant lately and I was wondering if you knew if anything was wrong? She hasn't spoken to me properly in ages."

Cath frowned.

"Why do you think I'd know?"

She did, but that wasn't the point.

"Well, because women talk to women about things, you know?"

Cath gave him a smile. He looked like a man that had lost his best friend. She guessed Beth must have been keeping her distance lately because of her feelings but not having seen her lately herself, she wasn't sure what was going on. But she was hoping to be able to help in some way.

"Look, Nick and I are heading to the hospital soon to interview a victim, do you want me to drop in to see Beth?"

Greg smiled.

"Yeah, that'll be cool thanks. Tell her I'll be coming round tonight to see her."

He had to get to the bottom of her behaviour and seeing as she'd been there for him the past couple months, he was very prepared to be there for her, no matter what was bothering her.

------------------------------

After the interview was over Cath lead Nick down to the ER where they knew Beth would be and soon spotted her coming out of a room down a short, quiet corridor off the main flow of traffic in the ER. A youngish boy of about 14 followed her out with his hands bandaged up and red rimmed eyes as if he'd been crying. Cath caught Beth's eye and gave a wave, Beth smiled back and acknowledged her presence with a 'just a moment' gesture of her hand before turning her attention back to the boy, talking to him.

Cath smiled as she watched Beth at work until a woman stepped partially into her line of sight, as she stepped into the corridor in front of Beth and the boy. Cath frowned as she caught the look on Beth's face. She'd gone suddenly pale and the boy looked frightened. She watched as Beth put her hand up in defence and she moved sideways to get a better view. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the woman's hands. They were both holding onto a gun that she had aimed at the boy. Beth seemed to be trying to calm the woman down and Cath reached for her gun a split second before she remembered that she hadn't brought it with ehr to the hospital. Cursing herself, she looked around urgently for security but no-one seemed to have realised that anything was wrong, there was so many people milling about and no-one was looking down the short corridor with a dead end. Cath turned to where Nick had been next to her and found him across the way smiling and gesturing a flirtatious hello at a nearby nurse. She looked to the other side of her and found a young medical student leaning over the counter. She called to him quietly.

"Hey you, get security."

She said with a gesture towards the corridor. The medical student looked shocked as he took in the scene and nodded before moving away quickly. Cath watched as he found a security guard who proceeded to pull out his gun and move over. Like dominoes, people started to realise something was up and soon everyone was quiet. During this time Cath had been watching very carefully to what was going on. Beth was still trying to calm the woman down and in the process she was slowly edging her way in front of the boy using her hand to pull the boy, who seemed to be the woman's target, behind her. She could hear the security man talking to the woman quietly but couldn't completely make out what he was saying. He stepped closer at the same time as the lift across the way opened and more security stepped out. The movement seemed to spook the woman and suddenly Cath saw the gun go off before the sound hit her ears. She watched in horror as the woman seemed to find strength in the sound of the first bullet and managed to fire off two more rounds in very quick succession before the security guard shoved her to the ground. Cath saw Beth and the boy pitch backwards into the door with a cry and fall back as it opened on them, landing in a heap together on the floor.

There was a momentary pause before all hell suddenly broke loose. A load of doctors and nurses rushed over to where Beth and the boy were laying. Cath followed them with Nick close at her heels and caught sight of the security men pulling the woman to her feet, having disarmed her, tears of anger and hate flowing down her face.

A Doctor reached Beth first and helped the boy up from where he had half landed on her after she had fallen past him and taken him with her. His arm was covered in blood where one of the bullets had scraped past him, and he appeared to be in shock as the Doctor handed him over to a nurse to get him out of the way and treated. The Doctor carefully stepped over Beth as he went through the doorway to her head and Cath got her first look at Beth through the crowd of about three doctors and two nurses. Cath could see she was shaking considerably and in obvious pain. There was blood pooling on her clothes on her left thigh and shoulder. A nurse pushed past her with a backboard as she heard the Doctor speak.

"Beth? Beth, look at me."

Beth's glazed eyes looked up at the Doctor. Everyone seemed blurry and where there was pain a moment ago now there was only numbness, but she couldn't seem to stop herself from shaking.

"That's it, just look at me. You'll be okay."

Cath moved closer.

"Oh God, Beth..."

Beth heard Cath's voice through the din of sound and looked up in her direction, only one thought on her mind.

"Cath...Greg..."

She forced out between chattering teeth in disorientation. _Get Greg. I need Greg. I need to tell him._ Was what she wanted to say, but she was finding it very hard to speak, her lips were numb as was her entire body almost, except for the waves of pain radiating throughout her body every few moments and to which movement seemed to make worse as she found out when the Doctor's turned her to place the backboard underneath her. She cried out with the pain, a feeble but penetrating sound.

"Sorry hon, had to be done."

She heard her friend Ben say to her.

"It's alright Beth." Cath replied, knowing what she'd been trying to say. "He'll be here."

"Tell him...tell him..."

She tried again desperately to finish the sentence she'd tried to start earlier as the people around her lifted the backboard. Greg had to know about how she felt, even if she wouldn't be around to tell him, she just needed to know he'd be told, that she loved him until her last breathe.

"You can tell him yourself when he gets here."

_What if I'm not here when he gets here?_ Beth thought, fear washing through her, she knew a bad injury when she saw one.

Cath watched them rush the board with Beth on past her and into the main trauma room. She felt sick as she watched blood dripping through the board and onto the floor and she looked down to where Beth had been laying to see a pool of blood. Cath knew from experience that that much blood was not a good sight.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Nick looking at her, a slightly pale colour. She gave him a smile in reassurance and they both moved over to get a better view of where they'd taken Beth, waiting for any news. They could see people rushing about connecting her to the monitors and other machines.

"Okay GSW's to the left shoulder just below the clavicle, and left upper thigh – the shoulder's a through and through."

"5cc's Morphine and 2cc'a Darvocet. I want a CBC, Chest and shoulder film, and blood type and cross match for eight units. We need to find out how much damage this bullet has done."

"Blood pressures 40 palp, pulse 140."

"Get that IV going!"

Beth's friend Ben called out.

"Got it!"

A nurse acknowledged. Suddenly Beth's head lolled slightly.

"Beth?" Ben checked. "She's out – intubate her."

"She's hypotensive and tachycardic and her pulse is thready."

"Her skin's pale and clammy – she's gone into shock – give her 4cc's Demerol and 2cc's Fentanyl."

"Come on Beth, come on. Fight this."

Ben muttered under his breath as everyone rushed round doing their jobs.

"Heart rates slowing and BP's 110/70."

"She's stabilising. Let's get her to surgery – NOW!"

Cath watched as Beth was once again rushed past her and towards the lift. One of the nurses who recognised them as being friends moved over towards them.

"Has someone gone to get Greg?"

She asked.

"I'm gonna go ring him now. Is there anywhere we can wait when he gets here?"

"There's a waiting room on floor 5 where surgery is, you can wait in there. I'll show you were it is when you've called him."

"Thanks."

Cath replied and moved off with Nick towards the exit so she could use her mobile.

"You should get back to CSI, we've got deadline on this case. I'll wait for Greg."

Nick nodded still in shock at what had happened, it had all gone so quickly.

"Let us know when you know anything."

-----------------------------------------

Cath took a deep breath before she dialled the number and extension for the lab. It rang twice before being picked up.

"Lab."

Greg's voice came through. Cath sighed, hating to be the bearer of bad news.

"Greg."

She all she could manage at first.

"Hey Cath, if you're wanting your blood results you'll have to wait another 10 minutes, they're not quite ready."

"I uh, I wasn't ringing up about them. Greg, I uh...there's..."

"Cath what's wrong?"

Greg asked concerned, removing his feet from the table and sitting up properly. It was rare that Cath stumbled over her words unless something had happened.

"Is everything alright? Anything I can help you with? Nothing wrong with Lindsey or anything?"

He questioned. She was one of the only things Greg could think of to cause Cath to sound worried, although if it was he didn't know why she'd ring him up.

"No. No, there's nothing wrong with Lindsey...it's uh...it's Beth."

Greg sat up straighter, the colour draining from his face.

"Beth?"

His voice faltered.

"There's been an incident, can you come to the hospital?"

Cath had barely finished the sentence when she heard the phone click as Greg practically threw the phone down and ran from the room, grabbing his backpack as he went.

-----------------------------------

Greg arrived in record time and Catherine watched as he rushed up to where she was standing in the entranceway of the hospital.

"Cath, what's happened, where is she? Is she okay?"

He asked in one breath. Cath spoke calmly to him.

"She's in surgery. She was shot, I don't know the details exactly but the last I saw her they had her stabilised and were getting her to surgery. There's a waiting room we can go to."

Greg looked completely out of his mind with worry as he followed Cath into the building and over to the lift in silence, his mind on a thousand different things. They found the waiting room empty when they got to it and Greg sat down, before standing back up and pacing the room.

"What happened, I mean, how...how can she get shot, did she say anything?"

Cath watched him pace as she replied.

"From what I gathered Beth had been treating a young boy when a woman stepped in front of them with a gun. She was obviously angry at the kid for something. Beth stepped in the way, to protect him as the gun went off. She was conscious...her only thoughts were of you."

Greg nodded, sitting down and putting his head down into his hands. He couldn't believe this was happening. Now of all times. He hadn't seen her properly in over a week and it was killing him to think that the Christmas party may have been the last time he would ever see her. Cath placed her hand soothingly on Greg's back.

---------------------------------

There was no news for at least four hours in which Cath had been called back to the Lab. She told Greg to make sure to call them the minute that he heard anything. 20 minutes after they'd gone, a doctor entered the room. Greg stood quickly.

"Mr. Sanders?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you take a seat."

The Doctor, Beth's friend Ben who had insisted on helping with the surgery, said seriously, gesturing to the chair. Straight away Greg's heart hit the pit of his stomach and he felt a lump at the back of his throat, burning painfully along with the tears vehind his eyes.

"She's alive, she's in ICU. Her leg wound is okay and will heal in time. The shoulder wound, however, was quite serious. The bullet came very close to her heart and she went into shock. We managed to stabilise her but the next 48 hours will be critical."

Greg nodded, not really taking any of it in other than the fact that she was still alive.

"Can I see her?"

"Of course."

He stood with the doctor and followed him out of the waiting room. Walking past a window to one of the rooms in ICU the Doctor stopped and gestured to the bed inside. Greg looked in and had to catch himself from gasping at the sight. Beth was in there, laying like a china doll on the bed, surrounded by wires and machines that were buzzing and beeping constantly. Her left leg was slightly raised under the covers and Greg could see there was a bandage covering her chest from just above the top of the white hospital gown she was wearing loosely so that the nurses could get to her easily to change the bandages. Greg felt his stomach lurch at the sight of her, he'd never seen someone as close to him as family looking like this before and it made his chest hurt from fear.

"It's not as bad as it looks in there I assure you. The machines are checking her heart-rate, breathing and blood pressure, and there are a few IV's giving her some medicine to help her, and a tube that's helping her breath, so try not to worry too much, okay?"

The Doctor told him, noticing the expression of panic on the young mans face. Greg nodded, pulled himself up straighter, stronger, and headed into the room. Taking the seat that had been placed beside the bed, he took Beth's pale hand in both of his carefully.

"Hey sweetheart, it's alright I'm here now. I'm here now."

He said to her. The Doctor smiled slightly to himself and walked away back to his other duties.

**Well? Did you like this chapter. I've practically finished the next one so it shouldn't take too long to update, not as long as last time i assure you. Please review, i respond very kindly to them :-)**


	7. Chapter Six

Hello. I know i did it again. Left it really late before posting this, i've not been in a writing mood for a while, the muse bunny disappeared on me! Only just finished this chapter so my apologies for any bad spellings/grammar etc.

snapefan51: Yeah, she certainly is having a run of bad luck, you'll just have to keep reading to see if it changes or not.

Jenie: hope i have kept them in character. I've done the best i can do so please let me know what you think, constructive critisism in these areas is always useful.

knadineg: Guess you'll just have to read to see if Greg realises the good woman Beth certainly is. Unrequited love is just the worse thing.

sissysplace123: Hope the wait for this chapter will have been worth it, read on to see if she heard.

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Chapter Six

Greg glanced at the clock in the room as the nurse re-entered. They were coming in every 15 minutes to check her vitals; it seemed like days had passed for him and it had only been an hour. He still couldn't believe it, anything that had happened – it was like being in a bad dream but no matter what he did to wake himself up, nothing seemed to work. He looked up from his hands and onto her prone body; she looked so fragile and small surrounded by the wires and machines. He followed the tube from her mouth, as he'd done a thousand times since entering the room, down and round to a machine next to him which made a noise every time it breathed for her. The ache in his chest got worse so he tried not to think about it too much; about how that machine was keeping her alive. He felt claustrophobic and caged – trapped in a moment of time filled with fear and grief. Wanting and needing to do something he stood and paced the room a couple times trying to work out the frustration at being completely and utterly useless. He looked back over to her, to Beth, hoping to see a change, but at the same time knowing there would be none. The Doctor had told him that they were keeping her sedated for at least 24 hours. He looked out of the window at the night sky and the dark clouds off in the distance and gave a short frustrated sigh before he remembered that he'd told Cath he'd contact her when he found out any news. He headed out the door and to the nearest telephone. It took a few moments before he heard Cath's voice.

"Cath? It's Greg."

He said.

"How is she?"

She asked immediately.

"Stable. They say she's stable, but that they won't know much more for at least 24 hours."

"And what about you? How are you holding up?"

Cath could hear the strain in his voice.

"Okay...well, as okay as you can get when your best friend's lying in a hospital bed surrounded by machines."

"She's strong Greg, she'll fight this and she'll pull through. You've just got to give it time."

"Oh, um, the bloods you gave me before should be finished by now and – "

"Greg – don't worry about it. It's all been sorted out so put it out of your mind, you've got more important things to be thinking about at the moment."

"Thanks. Look, I've gotta get back to her."

"Okay, the rest of the team wish her well."

"Thanks. Bye."

He hung up, taking a moments pause before he turned to head back into the room.

"Mr Sanders?"

He turned to the sound of the voice. A nurse standing behind the reception counter across the way was holding her hand over the mouth piece of the telephone.

"Mrs Miller's on the phone, she'd like to talk to you."

She held out the phone towards him, he stepped forward and thanked her as he took it. Mrs Miller, Beth's mother; what in the world was he gonna say to her?

"Hey Mrs Miller."

He spoke quietly.

"Oh Greg, my darling boy, how are you doing?"

It was the last thing he expected to hear and he realised that somewhere along the lines he'd forgotten that Beth's parents had always treated him like one of their own.

"I'm fine, I'm okay. They've told you everything I gather?"

"Yes, they contacted us yesterday, we're trying to get a flight out but there's hurricanes over here at the moment so it may take a while."

"Ok."

"How's she looking?"

Pale, small, heartbreaking? "Like she's just sleeping."

Beth's mother knew he wasn't telling the whole truth, she knew him all too well.

"Stay strong, she'll get through this, and we'll be along as soon as we can."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Take care."

"I will. Bye."

He hung up, tears stinging his eyes for the first time since his life had been turned upside down; he blinked them back and headed back into her room.

---------------------------------------------------

Greg stirred in the chair, then groaned as he felt the stiffness in his neck. He opened his eyes and realised it was morning; he must have fallen asleep. He sat up from his slouch and looked up at Beth, but she hadn't changed. He looked down to find someone had placed a blanket around him and gratitude swept through him as he stood and folded it back up before placing it back on the chair.

Taking a stroll around the room to stretch his muscles he prepared himself for another day of keeping vigil over her when a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Good morning Mr Sanders."

Greg turned to see Doctor Harvey, Beth's friend Ben, enter the room.

"Hey."

Greg watched him pick up Beth's chart.

"And how are we doing today Beth?"

He scanned through the pages, checked her vitals and looked over the results from the machines attached to her. When he appeared to have finished Greg spoke.

"Well...?"

"She's still stable."

"Is that good or bad?"

"It's not bad at least. She's still the same. You on the other hand need to go home and get some proper sleep. Doctor's orders."

Greg shook his head.

"I'm not going anywhere. I want to be here when she wakes."

"And when she wakes she's going to need you to be strong and awake, not falling asleep on your feet."

Greg was about to reply to that when another voice interrupted.

"Hey buddy. How ya doing?"

Nick said as he entered the room followed by Warrick.

"He was just about to go home."

The Doctor replied for him as a nurse entered the room to speak to him.

"No I wasn't. I'm fine by the way. It's good to see you."

"How's Beth?"

"Still stable. No change."

"That's sort of good news, right? She's not any worse at least."

Warrick said to him. He looked around the room and was reminded of the time Grissom had been in a similar room and it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Maybe you two can persuade him to go home and get some sleep."

The Doctor said to Nick and Warrick before leaving the room with the nurse. Before either Nick or Warrick could say anything, Greg spoke.

"Don't even start, I'm not leaving her until she wakes up."

They both bit back the comments they were going to say at the look on Greg's face. They'd never seen him so earnest and serious before in their lives. He was always the first to find a joke in any situation no matter how appropriate and it made them realise just how concerned and anxious Greg was actually feeling.

"At least take a break from this room. Come and have breakfast with us."

Greg looked over to Beth; he looked reluctant to go at the same time as realising his stomach was hurting from hunger. He hadn't eaten anything for over 12 hours.

"Look, we'll let them know where we're going so if anything happens they can come and get you. Okay?"

They waited for his answer and finally he spoke.

"Okay. But no longer than half hour."

He leaned over Beth, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead and letting her know he'd be back soon before he followed them out the room.

-------------------------------------------------

After Greg had picked at his breakfast and gulped his coffee down, they all headed back to Beth's room where Nick and Warrick stayed a short time before heading home for sleep and once again Greg was alone in his bedside vigil.

He sat in silence for a long time, his mind a jumbled mess of thoughts and memories of his life with Beth, their childhood, the many boxing day escapades, how he used to miss seeing her everyday once they got into adulthood; and what life would be like not having her there to chat to, spend time with, spend holidays with. And as much as he didn't want to think about it he couldn't help it; his mind was just running wild with fearful thoughts. She hadn't changed at all since that first moment he'd seen her laying there on the bed.

He sat up and took her hand, cradling it carefully in his. He stared at her delicate features, her perfectly shaped nails, her smooth skin, the tiny scar she had on the middle finger of her left hand. He'd held this hand so nonchalantly a million times and he'd never noticed anything about it. Before, it was just a hand, now it seemed his only link to someone he'd known longer than anyone else in the world that wasn't related to him. He absently rubbed his thumb over her hand soothingly, more for himself than for her.

"Do you remember that boxing day we spent together? We must have been what; 13? 14? My family were babysitting my aunt's dog and we had to take it for a walk. You remember? It was a St. Bernard – massive thing it was and it got off the lead. We must have ran after it for miles, spent hours searching the fields we'd been walking in. And then it started raining, not just spitting but full pelt. We were soaked when we finally got home and I was so scared about what my parents were going to say. You were always the calm one remember? Always calm and collected no matter what the situation. When we finally entered the house the dog was asleep by the fire, he'd been back for hours. And we ended up with colds and stuck inside for the rest of the holiday. But at least it got us out of walking the dog again."

Greg laughed at the memory, then turned serious again.

"Come on Beth, Look, you don't have a choice here. You gotta wake up – you know I can't be the calm one – I never have been. I need you. I need you to keep me grounded, keep me sane. Come on Beth, I mean...how am I gonna become a CSI without your help, huh? And who am I gonna call every night...and talk about everything we did all day? Who am I going to make bets with, and play cards with and laugh with? You're my best friend. You've always..."

He stared at her for a long time, something triggered in his mind as the pieces all fell into place. It was so clear, how had he never seen it before? Looking away for an instant, he struggled with his emotions before looking back.

"...I love you."

Something beeped in the background pulling him quickly out of his thoughts.

"Beth?"

He said, realising straight away that something was wrong. Another machine starting beeping violently before turning into a monotonous tone, and then everything became a blur for Greg as the doors burst open and doctors and nurses came rushing in and bustling around. He got pushed back out of the way, losing his grip on her hand as they stepped up to her bedside. He stood there dumbstruck for a moment as orders and information was passed back and forth and equipment was disconnected and reconnected so that her bed could be wheeled out of the room. Greg lifted his hands up to his head, feeling tears sting his eyes as he gripped the hair on the back of his head as he shook it. He seemed to come to his senses again as she disappeared from sight and he reached out to grab the arm of a nurse.

"What's going on? Where are you taking her?"

Hearing the quiver in his voice and seeing the distress in his eyes, she sat him down and bent down to his level.

"They're taking her back to surgery. They think she may have a blood clot and they need to operate." Greg leaned forwards and put his head into his hands. "When we know anything, we'll let you know. Is there anyone I can call for you?"

"Her parents will need to be told."

The nurse nodded before disappearing out of the room leaving Greg sitting in the chair staring at the empty space where the bed had been.

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Hey, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Comments are always welcome. xx


	8. Chapter Seven

**Oh dear Lord how terrible have i been in posting this! I've just not been in a CSI mood lately. But i'm determined to finish this for those of your still reading. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**Chapter Seven**

Greg wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there staring into space when he heard a voice call his name. He turned and saw Cath standing in the doorway, a paper bag in her hand. A nervous look crossed her face, dreading the answer to her next question.

"What's happened?"

She walked further into the room and placed the lunch bag onto the bedside table next to Greg before putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Greg?" Cath tried again. "Greg, she's not..."

She left the question unanswered as she kneels down in front of him.

"No."

He replied before briefly telling her what had happened.

"They said they'd tell me anything as soon as they knew."

Cath nodded at that.

"She's still fighting, that's the main thing. Try not to think about it until you know anything more."

"I know, I know. It's just..."

"Just what?"

She asked gently. There was obviously something else bothering him. He struggled for a moment with the words, then started to speak.

"All this time...nearly two decades of friendship, and I never realised, never noticed how much she means to me...how much I really love her." He looked at Cath. "I love her. What am I supposed to do with that? What am I going to do? What do I do? What if she...?"

Inwardly Cath smiled at that, men were certainly slow but at nearly two decades he was certainly one of the slowest.

"Greg listen to me. She's going to make it. Believe that. And when she's back from surgery tell her. Tell her how you feel."

Greg nodded, taking a breath to pull himself together. Cath stayed with him for half an hour until she was needed back at work which left him alone for long, slow hours before he heard anything. He was standing by the window when they wheeled her back in. He turned and moved quickly over to her side as they pushed the bed back into place and reconnected all the machines back up. The Doctor turned to look into Greg's eager, earnest face, needing answers.

"Well...?"

Greg questioned, feeling like he'd been waiting too long for an answer.

"We managed to fix the problem with her heart and she's stable, however…" He paused for a moment figuring out how to put it. "We've had some problems getting her to respond to us."

Greg looked perplexed.

"Which means?"

"She's in a coma."

Greg exhaled, looking at the floor. How much more could she go through? A coma could mean anything, she may never wake up, he thought scared. The Doctor seemed to realise his train of thought and spoke.

"Most coma's tend to only last a few days and I think that maybe the case here so don't start worrying that she maybe like this for years. In cases like these there's not much we can do but wait, however, we have found a high success rate when families have helped."

"How? I'll do anything?"

"Talk to her, talk about anything, old memories, holidays, play her favourite music, read her favourite books to her, do anything that's linked with her life that may help bring her round."

Greg nodded his head in acknowledgement at this, going over in his head everything he could think of. And when Nick arrived to see how they were doing he told Greg he'd give him a lift home; Greg was too tired to be driving himself anywhere and he knew it. Nick even persuaded him to stay long enough for a shower and was happy when Greg fell asleep on the sofa while Nick was making coffee.

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The next day, after Greg had reprimanded Nick for letting him sleep so long before ringing the hospital and checking on Beth's progress, Nick dropped Greg back off at the hospital. Upon entering her room he heard her Doctor, Michael, talking to her and he paused in the doorway, lowering the bag in his hand to the floor.

"Looks like you'll have to postpone going back to Africa, eh Beth? Can't say I'm disappointed in that, I didn't want you to go back in the first place."

He said, placing her chart back on the end if the bed. Greg frowned at what he'd said. What was he talking about?

"Hey Doc, what did you mean by that? About her going back to Africa?"

The Doctor frowned at him.

"You didn't know? She was planning on going back, handed in her notice just after Christmas."

"But she's only just got back from Africa, why would she be leaving again? I thought she liked working here?"

"She does. She said there were other reasons but didn't go into anything specific. I got the feeling she was running away from something, she hasn't been herself lately. Quiet, withdrawn – I think it may have been to do with some guy."

Greg looked confused as the Doctor left to continue his rounds, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze as he went past. Greg looked at the floor; he'd noticed a change, but not having seen her lately he hadn't been able to see the extent of it. Picking up the bag, he moved over to the bed and put the bag on the chair as he leant over the bed and gave Beth a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Hey, I'm back. I've brought some of your things with me." He started emptying the bag of items as he continued to talk. "Sorry I've been away from you for so long. I guess I hadn't realised how tired I'd become, it's probably a good thing because it means I'll be fresh and awake for when you wake up. Look, I've brought your favourite music with me," he said as he placed the stereo and CD's on the table at the end of her bed. "I thought it might cheer you up. Wake you up." He added quietly. He fished out a couple of her favourite books, placing them on the bedside table, and lastly pulled out some photo frames with pictures of her family and friends to scatter about the room. Satisfied with himself, he picked a CD and placed it into the stereo. Sarah McLachlan's soothing voice started to fill the room as Greg sat back into his seat.

"I thought I'd start with this, knowing how much you love her voice. Personally I'd prefer something with a bit more kick in it, but I don't think the staff would appreciate it." He said with a smirk. "Or you, for that matter."

He continued to talk, for hours it seemed, about anything and everything. Just like the Doctor had said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple hours in, a nurse gently tapped on the door to get his attention. With a smile, she spoke.

"Mr. Miller's on the phone."

With a nod, Greg rose and followed her outside towards the desk.

"Do they know about the coma yet?"

He asked before he picked up the receiver.

"Yes, they rang yesterday while you were home."

He nodded, then answered.

"Hey, it's Greg."

"Ah, Greg. How are you holding up?"

"Okay. I hear they told you about the relapse."

"Yes...yes. We were just ringing up to check that everything was, well, that it hadn't got worse."

"No, she's the same – I'm uh, playing her favourite music for her and talking to her, the Doctors said it could help."

"Good lad. I thought I'd also let you know that the storms clearing up, they said we should be able to catch a plane back to arrive early new years day."

"That's good news. I'll let Beth know."

"Keep well, lad. The missus wants a quick word."

"Okay."

He sighed as he waited for Mrs. Miller to come onto the line. There was something he wanted to ask her, something he wanted to get off his chest.

"Greg, I just wanted to check you were okay, and that my baby was still okay."

"She's okay, she's gonna be okay, and don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'm just focusing on Beth getting better."

"I can hear Sarah McLachlan in the background."

"Yeah, I'm playing it for her. I know it's her favourite. Mrs. Miller?"

"What is it Greg?"

She asked gently, hearing that he obviously had something on his mind.

"Has Beth um...has she mentioned about going back to Africa?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"It's just, she handed her notice in before, well, before all of this happened, I didn't know if she'd said anything to you – because her Doctor said he thought it had something to do with a guy, but I didn't even know she was seeing anyone."

Mrs. Miller felt her heart go out to the lad. He certainly was slow on the uptake, and for a moment she battled with telling him the truth or not, he sounded so miserable, bless him.

"Tell me something, how would you feel if it was to do with someone, some guy she'd met?"

"I don't know, it...I don't know if I really want to say this but I think...I feel jealous."

He didn't know why he was telling her this, maybe from the emotional strain he'd been under, it was making him vulnerable.

"Why? Why jealous? Is it because she's your best friend and you feel overprotective?"

She held her breath, hoping for the answer she was looking for.

"Well, yeah, but no – it's not just that it...Mrs. Miller I think I'm in love with her. I don't know what to do about it."

Mrs. Miller smiled.

"Of course you are."

"And it makes me mad to think that someone could have pushed her away enough for her to want to leave the country again."

She took a breath, knowing that what she was about to say would cause him great pain, but he needed to be told.

"Oh, my darling boy. I love you but you are slow at times. The bloke the Doctor was talking about...was you."

He let this information sink in, and he frowned, his head feeling light.

"Greg, she's been in love with you ever since she was a little girl. I don't want you to be mad at yourself, she hid it well. But I think these last couple months, everything she saw out in Africa, it made her realise how short life was and how not a moment should be wasted."

"Why didn't she tell me...?"

"I think because she didn't want to ruin the friendship you've always had. Opening yourself up like that to a person you know so well can go horribly wrong and ruin a friendship if the other person doesn't feel the same. She didn't know you were in love with her."

"Neither did I until yesterday." He said with a small nervous laugh. Mrs. Miller laughed along with him. "I don't know what to do with it. I've never felt like this before. I mean, it must have been so hard for her lately, I've been completely oblivious to her feelings, feelings I didn't even recognise without hindsight, it must have hurt her so much – I've been treating her like I always did, like one of the lads. What should I do?"

"Tell her. Tell her now. Tell her when she wakes."

-------------------------------------------------------

After the phone call, he went back to his bedside vigil, he played more music, he chatted to her about their times together – good times, bad times, games, fights. He'd forgotten how much they used to get up to until he was flicking through one of her photo albums of childhood memories. People came and visited, Doctors and nurses came and went, but still he stayed, awake or asleep, talking or in silence. It wasn't until he looked up at the clock and realised he'd lost track of the time. It was 11.30 at night on New Years Eve. He looked out and saw staff and patients gathered outside chatting and laughing and joking, and he looked back to Beth, laying still on the bed and a memory came to him.

"You know, in all this time that I've known you, I've never won a bet against you, isn't that something? In all these years. And then I realised that it's been quite a while since our last bet as well so I figured now seems as good a time as any.

"So...I'm gonna bet ya...a years supply of drinks, that's alcoholic by the way, that you won't wake up before new years eve. You got that? That you 'won't' wake up in the next half an hour. Prove me wrong sweetheart, don't break the cycle of a lifetime by losing this bet, prove me wrong, wake up. You won't want to have to buy me drinks for the rest of this new year so go and win this bet. Please."

He took her hand and silently willed her to win the bet over and over, and when he heard the staff counting down the last 10 seconds he held his breath and forced back the sheen of tears in his eyes as he realised it wasn't going to happen this time. A few minutes passed in silence as he composed himself, he wasn't going to lose control. Then he gave her a small smile.

"You always were the stubborn type."

--------------------------------------------------------------

A slight shaking awoke him up a few hours later and he opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the light and wondering when he'd fallen asleep.

"Greg?"

He looked up. Beth's parents were standing over him, looking between him and their daughter in the bed.

"You're here." He said, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "What time is it?"

"Just gone half seven."

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he tried to wake his brain up. Beth's mother looked at him.

"Greg, go home. Get some sleep. You look like you need it."

"I'm fine, really."

"Greg," Beth's father said. "Why don't you go home, freshen yourself up, so we can spend some time with our daughter. We'll ring if anything happens. Okay?"

Greg nodded, understanding.

"Sure."

He gathered his things together as he spoke.

"I'll be back in a few hours, is there anything you'd like me to bring you back?"

"No we're fine Greg, darling."

Beth's mother said as she gave Greg a kiss on the forehead before he left.

**So, any comments, questions? I hope you enjoyed it and want more.**


	9. Chapter Eight

Hello everyone. I'm so sorry this chapter was late - again! I have such good intentions, then my muse leaves me and i find myself unable to continue! Horrible! Anyway, thank you RyleeS for your review on the last chapter. As you can see i still haven't given up on it! I'm too stubborn and hate leaving unfinished business so i will definitely get this finished at some point. Please enjoy.

**Chapter Eight**

Greg awoke the next morning with a jolt and sat bolt upright in bed. He exhaled when he realised he'd been holding his breath, but was unable to remember the reason why. He was pretty sure he'd just been dreaming, but as his brain became more alert, the dream faded into nothing. He glanced at the clock. It was 7.30am. He'd been away from Beth's bedside a whole day now, the longest time since this whole nightmarish drama started. He threw back the covers and headed for the bathroom; he needed a shower. He also knew he needed to contact work, to see how much more of his holiday he could take - they'd been great so far over it, knowing that he'd not have been able to focus on anything if he'd have gone in, and he was thankful to Matt who'd stepped in part time to take his place. He'd have to ask them how he was getting on. Feeling the hot water wash away the remnants of the night he suddenly remember what date it was and smiled slightly to himself.

Just over an hour later he found himself walking back down the familiar corridor towards Beth's room. He glanced in the window as he passed to see her still in the same position that he'd left her in, and she was alone.

"Hey sweet." He said, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before sitting down. "Guess what I remembered this morning? Do you know what the date is? It's the 2nd January. 22 tears ago today we first met. Do you remember? We were six and you'd just moved to the neighbourhood and my parents dragged me round so we could all welcome you. If I remember correctly I was dressed in jeans, some shirt my mother had made me wear and my baseball cap which I specifically remember refusing to take off. And I remember you were hiding behind your mother, she had to coax you out because you were really shy." Greg smiled and stood up, moving over to the window. "We came in and our parents shoved us towards the garden to play. You wanted to play Hopscotch and I think I called you a girl because I wanted to play Cowboys and Indians."

Feeling a lump suddenly appear in his throat he stopped talking and focused on forcing it back down. For some reason, out of all the memories he'd remembered and everything he'd talking about around her, this seemed to make him more emotional and he could feel the tears edging their way out of his eyes. He leaned forwards and rested his head on the glass, taking a shaky sigh as he tried to compose himself without success.

"Greg?"

Mrs. Millers voice called behind him suddenly. He stood upright, quickly wiping the tears away with the arm of his sleeve, quickly trying to pull himself together as he turned to face her with a smile planted on his face.

"Yeah?"

But she wasn't looking at him. She was staring at the bed. Feeling a jolt of nerves and fear hit his stomach he turned his head to look at her. As quickly as the jolt had come, another of relief washed it away as he watched Beth try to lift her hand before moaning gently. In a heartbeat they'd both reached her side, Greg grabbing the hand that she was trying to lift and gently held it to his chest. Her mother put her hand on Beth's forehead, gently brushing the hair back.

"Beth?"

Greg questioned.

"Beth, sweetheart can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

Her mother requested. Slowly her eyes opened and vaguely focused on them.

"Hey honey, you had us all scared to death, you know that?"

Greg told her. She blinked slowly before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Greg, what's up?"

Cath asked concerned as she answered her phone.

"She woke up. She's awake."

Cath could hear the relief in his voice as he almost laughed the words.

"Thank God, how is she, is she okay?"

"I don't know, the Doctors are in there now checking everything, but they said it looked promising. I just thought I'd let you all know."

"Thank Greg. Tell her we're all thinking of her."

"I will. Bye."

He hung up as he saw Mr. Miller heading towards them and Beth's mother got to her feet to hug him. Greg turned at the sound of the door to Beth's room opening and the Doctors and nurses filtered out. Beth's friend and doctor, Michael, came over to them.

"She appears to be doing well, responded well to all the tests, I think she's finally out of the woods but she still has a long journey to go. She'll probably sleep now for a while."

"Thanks Doc."

Greg said and walked past him and into the room. Mr. Miller took the Doctors hand.

"How can we ever thank you Doctor for what you've done for our daughter."

"I can't take all the credit, your daughters a strong girl."

He smiled before turning and heading back to his office.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sounds and smells slowly became real as Beth's strange dream disappeared into black. She realised she was awake without opening her eyes and she laid still for a moment trying to get her bearings. She felt like she had jetlag, like she was out of place in the world, and she couldn't really remember what had happened or how she had come to be laying in a hospital bed. But she definitely knew she was in one, even though her eyes were closed. The sounds and smells around her were unmistakable. She tried to remember but it made her mind fuzzy and a thought suddenly popped in there – morphine, I'm coming down from a morphine high. She didn't know how she knew, only that she did, she'd seen it a hundred times – that groggy look and movements in patients, she'd been drugged up on painkillers for some reason. Feeling ready to open her eyes, she forced herself to lift her heavy lids and found her eyes focusing on the hospital ceiling. She blinked, once, twice, a small frown on her face, a slight fear in her heart that she couldn't remember getting there. Then suddenly her mother came into her line of sight and relief washed through her. There was something comforting about seeing your mother, it made everything all better again.

"Hey sweet, how are you feeling?"

She stared at her for a moment, trying to work out how she was feeling. Her mother gently removed the mask from her face so she could reply, having seen Beth trying to lift her hand to reach it.

"Mum...what...? I don't..."

Her mouth was dry as if she hadn't spoken in a long time, and it sounded rough to her.

"Shh..." Her mother soothed, placing a hand on her forehead and brushing her hair. "It's okay. Don't worry. Everything is gonna be fine."

"I need to know..."

She said slowly. Her mum gave her a smile, she knew her daughter, and her daughter would want to know, would be able to cope with knowing.

"You saved a life, that's what happened. This is gonna be hard to hear but...you were shot. But it's okay, everything has been sorted out and you're healing well."

Beth took all this in, and let it settle. She'd been shot. It was hard to process, her of all people, being shot. It was almost funny. Feeling tired and slightly woozy, she tried to ask another question that died on her lips, but her mother got the gist of what she wanted to know.

"He's fine. He's right over there in fact."

She gestured across the room and as Beth slowly managed to move her head in that direction her mother continued talking.

"He's been worried sick, he's barely left your side since it happened."

He was asleep, in the chair across the room, his eyes closed, his chest moving slowly up and down as he slept. Beth smiled slightly, then lay her head back on the pillow tiredly.

"Sleep. We'll still be here when you wake. And your father will be back from the hotel as well."

Beth nodded with her eyes, then closed them, falling quickly into slumber.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

She didn't know how long she'd slept for, only that as she woke again, she knew that the morphine had worn off. She felt stronger, more alert, that groggy feeling had gone. She kept her eyes closed, listening to the sounds that were crisp and clear and the smells that were more pungent.

The only sound in the room was the gentle beeping of the heart monitor which she found strangely comforting. The mask that was on her face last time she woke was now gone and had been replaced with the oxygen tube running under her nose and around behind her ears. She'd never realised quite how uncomfortable it could be at times but she supposed she'd get used to it. Focusing on her body she could feel a throbbing in her thigh that didn't disappear when she moved. In fact it awoke a dull pain in her chest that she found herself having to take slow deep breaths to calm it back down. Figuring it was about time to open her eyes and face reality, she braced herself against the harsh light and lifted her eyelids. She felt like she hadn't used them in months and as she adjusted to the light, which she was glad to say wasn't as harsh as she'd been expecting, she took a look around the room. It was empty of people except for herself and she noticed that a chair had been moved from the wall opposite and had been placed beside the bed. There were flowers and cards on the bedside table and around the room, as well as many personal items such as photos, a stack of her CD's, her CD player and some books. She looked down at herself remembering what her mother had said to her, something about being shot. There was a bandage covering her shoulder and chest along with her heart monitors and other wires and tubes leading in and out of her chest and arms, and her leg was slightly raised under the covers.

Turning her head slightly she looked at all the monitors beside the bed and was relieved that everything seemed to be within normal parameters. Now if she could just get a look at her chart, she thought to herself before a noise distracted her. She looked up to see the door open and Greg enter the room backwards with a cup of what smelled like coffee in one hand and a sandwich from the vending machine in the other.

Looking towards her as he always did when he entered the room, he was shocked to find her eyes open and staring at him, a small, tired smile on her face. A big relieved look crossed his face as he moved across the room in two strides and placed the cup and sandwich on the bedside table before turning to her.

"Hey...how are you feeling? Is everything alright?"

He asked all in one go as he placed one hand on her forearm and the other brushing her hair from her forehead. Her smile slid into a slight frown. She could hear a slight quiver in his voice that only someone close to him would be able to hear and his hand was shaking against her arm. She realised she'd been quiet for too long when he spoke again, a concerned frown on his face as well.

"Do you need me to get a Doctor?"

She shook her head gently and opened her mouth to speak. It still felt dry and unused.

"No, I'm okay." She replied slowly. "Can I have some water?"

"Yeah – yeah."

He said and quickly poured some out of the water jug beside her and into the waiting glass with a straw in it. He lifted it to her lips and held the straw still while she took a few sips, all the while her eyes on him and the glass shaking slightly in front of her. He replaced the glass and took hold of her arm once more.

"Better?"

"Much. Are you okay?"

He seemed shocked by the question and took a moment to reply.

"Of course I'm okay, I'm not the one in the hospital bed. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"You're shaking."

She replied slowly looking at his arm. He removed it and stared at the floor for a moment. A sign that he was nervous and trying to come up with a reply. He seemed to settle on the truth as he looked back up but not at her face.

"Well, you had me worried sick...I thought I'd lost you."

He finally looked up into her face. He had been contemplating lying to her but he knew she'd have known. She knew him too well, better apparently than he knew her.

"I'm sorry."

She told him. He looked mildly shocked.

"For what? This wasn't your fault."

He forced himself to see the brighter side. She was finally awake and it would only be a matter of 'when' she'd make a full recovery instead of 'if'. He needed to lighten the mood somehow and stop thinking about how he was feeling inside.

"Besides you'll be up and about in no time at all, because you know you owe me 100 drinks."

A gleam of humour slid into his eyes.

"I do?"

"Yeah, you do. You see, while you were unconscious we made a bet. We even shook on it too."

"And what would this bet have been on?"

She asked, playing along with a small smirk.

"Whether or not you'd wake up before new years day. I bet that you wouldn't and you lost. You would have won but I figured that since I always lost any bet that we made I decided to bet against you in hopes that you'd wake sooner."

She's been frowning through his speech. It hadn't occurred to her that she'd been unconscious for so long.

"What day is it?"

"4th January. You've been in a coma since the 28th right after you relapsed."

He stated, almost without feeling as if he didn't want to think about it. But she needed to know.

"Relapse? What happened to me?"

She demanded. Her mum hadn't mentioned anything about a relapse. Greg hadn't realised that she didn't know and right now he really didn't want to think anymore into it.

"Don't worry about that now. Why don't you just get some rest okay? You must be tired."

She stared at him, wanting an answer and when she wanted something this much she was going to get it.

"Hand me my chart."

She said holding a hand out, careful not to reawaken the pain too much. Greg sighed.

"Beth..."

"My chart please Greg."

He sighed, knowing that there was no arguing with her when she was like this. He stood and lifted the chart from the end of the bed and handed it to her. He watched as her eyes scanned the medical jargon on the pages and decided to tell her what he knew, the chart would only tell her so much.

"The bullet that hit you in the shoulder was close to your heart. They lost you once on the operating table but they managed to get you back. The relapse was due to a pulmonary embolism and you'd been in a coma since then."

He told her. The restless feeling he'd been fighting took over and he stood and paced across the room. Beth kept staring at the chart, shocked that she'd been so close to death. In all respects she had been dead for a while. She looked back up at him.

"I didn't know."

Greg looked back at her from across the room.

"Why would you?" He said with a small smile. He took a deep breath and headed back over. "But you're awake now and that's all that matters. The Doctor's have said that you're making good progress already and it won't be long before you're up and about again."

Beth watched him, realising how much he had been affected by the events.

"I'm sorry."

She told him for the second time that day.

"Stop apologising! None of this is your fault. It just happened."

"I know. But I'm still sorry for making you worry so much."

"What are you like eh? You're the one laying in a hospital bed and you're worried about me."

He gave her a gentle smile and brushed the hair off her forehead as he spoke. She felt the familiar tug at her heartstrings and forced herself to ignore it. She couldn't think about that now. She just had to focus on getting better. Greg noticed that she was getting tired again.

"Sleep. I'll be here when you wake."

He told her, she'd barely nodded and closed her eyes before sleep took over.

"Oh, and by the way..." He whispered. "I'm in love with you."

Well...? Any good? Did you enjoy that? Any questions? Constructive criticism?


	10. Chapter Nine

**Hello again. We're so close to the end now, I'm kinda half relieved, half saddened by that. I've had such a mental block on the last couple chapters I hope they've turned out alright for everyone. Haven't decided yet whether to end it here or give you some sort of epilogue – what do you think?**

**Hinaths – Very sorry for making you wait for this update – I hope you enjoy it ;)**

**Chapter Nine**

"So, what's my prognosis?"

Beth asked her Doctor as he placed her chart back at the end of the bed. It had been almost a week since she'd woken from the coma and she was now able to sit up in bed.

"You'll live."

He said, a smile on his face.

"I guessed that. When can I get up?"

She'd asked the question to him for the last three days in hopes she'd get the answer she was looking for.

"I suppose I could get the nurses to bring a wheelchair in today if you like."

He said with a smirk as he saw the shock on her face. She hadn't been expecting the answer to be yes.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Your leg is healing well; you're gonna need physio on it before you'll be able to walk on it, but that won't be until your chest wounds heal up some more. How's it feeling today?"

"Itchy. And it throbs when I breathe but it doesn't hurt as much as it was."

"It's going to be like that for a while I'm afraid. You've got a lot of healing to do."

She nodded, understanding.

"Greg coming in later?"

She shook her head.

"He's got to work, apparently he's used up pretty much all his holiday being here with me."

He could tell she didn't seem to know what to think about this.

"He cares for you. A lot, I could tell. He barely left your side."

"I know. We've been best friends for like forever it seems. My parents will be in later though, they're just packing."

"Packing?"

"Yeah, they've got to get back – work and everything. They didn't want to but I told them to go, I said I'd be okay – there's nothing much they can do anyway."

"Then lets give them something to celebrate when they come back, and get you in that wheelchair. I think maybe even a short trip outside would be okay as well."

"Yeah? That's great." She smiled. "Thanks."

He put his hand on her arm and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"I'll go get the nurses."

She nodded and watched as he walked out the door. She looked around the quiet room, surrounded by flowers, cards and gifts. It was one of the first times she'd been alone since the whole event had happened, she realised. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall the event. She still couldn't remember being shot, the last thing she could was starting her shift that day which apparently was a few hours before it happened. Before she could think anymore a couple nurses came in with a wheelchair.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When her parents arrived they were happy and relieved to see her up out of bed and took her for a trip around the building in the lovely weather. It was a nice way to spent their last day together for at least 3 weeks which was when they'd be able to come back. They left her in the wheelchair over by the open window where she'd be able to see the sun setting. She stayed still for a moment, enjoying the quiet, then looked up out of the window at the purples and pinks in the sky. A loud bang jolted Beth out of her peaceful thoughts and she found memories bombarding her mind, as she gripped the arms of the wheelchair.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Greg strode down the corridor of Beth's ward with a smile on his face and flowers in his hands. They were Beth's favourites – red roses. She was always a traditional girl, he thought. And if he was going to show her how he felt, he knew flowers were always going to be a sure bet to start with. He was going to take her mothers advice to tell her. And because he knew how she already felt he didn't have the fear of being out on a limp where she wasn't. He needed her to know that he loved her too. He pushed open Beth's door slowly, just in case she was asleep and frowned when he saw the empty bed. He opened the door further and spotted her by the window.

"Hey! You're up! That's great!"

He went over to her and stepped into her view. The smile on his face disappeared immediately and he felt a lump in his throat as he knelt down next to her.

"Beth? Beth, what's wrong?"

There was a mild tremor chasing up and down her frame. Her expression was blank, and her skin was beyond pale. Her jaw was tightly clenched and a white line was traced around her quaking lips, but the most startling sight was her eyes; they were huge, unfocused, with a fine sheen of tears. And the expression they held made Greg's heart go out to her.

"Beth."

He tried again gently as he put a hand on her arm. The warm touched seemed to bring her back and she inhaled quickly, her eyes darting to look right into his.

"Are you okay?"

He all but whispered. She didn't trust herself to answer, merely nodded slowly.

"What happened? Do you need a Doctor?"

She shook her head again and moved her hand to take his comfortingly. He squeezed back, trying not to rush her for an answer. Something had obviously affected her badly.

"I just...I remember what happened. It all came flooding back."

"Being shot?"

She nodded.

"I remember protecting that boy, and trying to calm the woman down, she looked scared and I remember thinking I didn't think she'd do anything, she was wavering and I could tell I almost got through to her when something spooked her. I can remember the noise and it was like someone had shoved me backwards. For a while I thought she'd missed me because there wasn't any pain, only numbness, and then I remember everyone around me and I knew it was bad from their faces, and then there was pain, so much pain, and I could see Cath standing over me."

She looked back up at Greg, her eyes focusing again. He was looking at her concerned, a frown wrinkling his brow. Beth saw the concern and tried to put him at ease.

"It's okay. I'm okay, it's good that I can remember. You wanna hear something ironic though?"

"What's that?"

"It was a car backfiring that brought it all back."

Greg laughed, for what seemed like the first time in years and Beth found the sound infinitely comforting. There seemed to be some link with backfiring cars and flashbacks, Greg thought. That's what had set him off all those weeks ago, months ago it seemed.

"So, you're okay? Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"Liar. You're forgetting I recently spend some time in one of these places myself."

She smiled at him as best she could muster, while she certainly wasn't ready to really contemplate what had happened, she was okay with the fact that she was concentrating on getting herself physically better first,

"I'm as okay as I can be right now – is that a better answer for you?"

"Much better. If you wanna talk, I'm here."

"Thanks Greg. Don't know what I'd do without you."

"Feelings mutual."

He said giving her a stare that hit the core of her soul, making her shiver. She shoved the feeling aside, promising herself she wouldn't think about that until she was better. Greg however was revelling in the emotions he felt when he stared that deep into her. Who knew these feelings had even existed before? How had he even managed to live without them? He could only describe it as never having had chocolate in your life, and not knowing what you were missing until you finally decided to take a bite after almost three decades without it, and wondering how you ever survived. Suddenly remembering the flowers he'd placed on the floor before he'd taken her arm, he picked them up and held them up in front of her.

"For you."

Her eyes lit up in awe, happiness and a little confusion as she took the flowers from him and stared at them.

"For what?"

"I'd have thought that was obvious. They're to cheer you up. I know they're your favourite."

She nodded to that.

"Thank you."

She said quietly, staring at them.

"I'll put them in some water," He said holding his hand out; she gave them back to him and he crossed to her bedside table to take out some old, dying flowers to replace them with the bright red roses. "I've brought a couple games with me as well, figured you'd be getting really bored right about now."

"Scrabble?"

She questioned. He smiled and produced the scrabble game from the bag he'd had slung on his back.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

There was blood, lots of blood, and pain. The pain was radiating through her whole body as she stared up into the faces of the Doctor's around her. They weren't doing anything, just standing and looking, tutting a little as they contemplated her wounds.

"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do. I think we're just going to have to put her down."

Beth stared at them in shock. Put her down? Like some dog or something? She tried to shake her head but she couldn't move, it was hard enough just to think with the pain coming in waves and growing in intensity. She heard a click and her eyes darting to the side as she saw another Doctor loading up a gun. Fear overcame the pain and she started to hyperventilate. She tried to tell him no, that she was okay, that she didn't need to die, she could fight this. She heard the bullets click in place as she tried to get someone's attention but no-one was looking. Then the man with the gun came into view. He looked sad as he raised the gun to her head. Finally Beth managed to scream but it was stolen from her as the bullet exploded from the gun –

- And she woke, the scream still on her lips and almost went to sit up. Pain exploded in her chest as she moved and she realised she'd ripped a couple stitches out. She tried to lay still and control her shallow breathing, realising now that it had just been a dream when the door opened and Michael and a nurse came running in, having heard her cry.

"Beth. What is it? What's wrong?"

She stared at him, wide eyed and tried to speak, but couldn't. She looked down at her chest to see blood pooling out onto her gown and the Doctor understood.

"Okay Beth, let's take a look."

Gently him and the nurse pulled the loose gown down far enough so that they could get to the blood soaked bandage and they removed it to check the damage.

"You've ripped a couple stitches, but I get the feeling you knew that already. It's okay, we'll get them fixed." He looked at the nurse. "Call down and let them know we need to bring Beth back in for stitches." She nodded and left the room as the Doctor found and replaced her bandages, watching Beth as a couple tears slid from her eyes and down the side of her face.

"You okay? You need something for the pain?"

She gave an subtle nod. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze before leaving the room to retrieve some painkillers for her. Beth stared at the ceiling, reliving the dream as it stayed vivid in her mind. She couldn't get it to go away. She always hated those dreams, the ones that affected you so badly that they seemed to stay with you for the rest of the day. When he returned, he gave her the painkiller, then got her transported out to get her stitches sorted. When she finally got back after also being checked for other damage, he took a seat on the chair next to the bed.

"Feeling better now?"

"Yeah."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay, let me rephrase that – I'd like to know what it was that made you scream back then and rip your stitches."

She gave him a sideways glance, then looked across the room with a slight vacant expression.

"I just had a dream, that's all." He gave her a look. "Oh, all right, a nightmare then. There's nothing more to tell."

There was a definite full stop at the end of her sentence that warned him not to continue. He gave a sigh.

"Okay Beth, you win. I won't pry any further. But I know what you must be going through, I've seen it enough times to know. And sooner or later you'll have to face it."

"I know." She replied back, quietly. "I will. I just...I need some time."

She pleaded, hoping he'd get the hint. He did.

"I'll leave you to get some more sleep. I can get you something to help with that if you want?"

"No, it's okay."

"All right then. Good night Beth."

"Hm, night."

She waited until the door had closed, then closed her eyes and took a long slow sigh. It was still hard to even contemplate the idea that she'd been shot, but at the same time she knew she wouldn't do anything different. She'd saved that boys life by stepping in the way, but at the same time she couldn't help but try to suppress the emotions welling inside of her, screaming to get out. The emotions and feelings that hated the woman, that hated that boy, that situation; why did it have to be her? Why did her life have to be the one that was put in jeopardy? She mentally slapped herself, pulling herself out of these painful thoughts – there was no need to go down that route. She just needed to give herself time to recover from her injuries, then she'd be back on track. She could go back to her boss, make sure he sorted out her resignation, contact her friends and colleagues in Africa and get reassigned, then everything will be okay.Not everything. A small voice in the back of her head answered, but she clamped down on it, ignoring it as she tried to clear her mind to sleep.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

On his way home from his night shift Greg stopped in at the hospital to check on Beth before he went home to sleep. Thinking about maybe taking her for a spin around the hospital in her wheelchair, he was surprised to find her still in bed when he got there, and looking rather worse for wear. She had grey shadows under her eyes as if she hadn't slept and the eyes themselves were slightly bloodshot and slightly glazed from tiredness. She looked over at him when he entered and tried a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Greg, hey, I didn't expect you this morning."

"What's happened?"

She gave him a confused look.

"Nothing's happened, why do you ask?"

"Because you look like hell."

"Gee, thanks for that."

She replied sarcastically.

"What are friends for? I thought you'd have been out of bed again, I know how stir crazy you've been going."

Beth didn't answer but a voice came from behind him and he turned to see her Doctor standing in the doorway.

"She's not allowed, not for another day or two."

"Why?"

Greg asked, looking from one to the other. Michael, realising that Beth wasn't going to answer again, spoke up.

"Because she ripped out a couple stitches in her chest last night."

Michael turned and left the room, leaving them to talk.

"How?" Greg aimed the question at Beth as he moved closer to her. "How?"

He tried again. She looked at him.

"It was nothing. Just a nightmare that's all. Not uncommon for someone that's been through a traumatic experience."

Greg sat down, worry emanating from him.

"Tell me about it. What did you see?"

"Nothing, it was stupid."

"Not so stupid I think, what was it?"

"It was just some Doctors looking over me just after I'd been shot. They said there was nothing they could do and that they'd have to put me down, then another guy loaded a gun and shot me, and I woke up. I told you it was stupid." When Greg did nothing more than stare at her she continued. "Look, I'm okay Greg, I told you yesterday I was fine. I just need some time to heal so I can get my life back on track and put this all behind me."

Greg, understanding Beth, and what she was doing, tried to talk some sense into her.

"Beth, after what you've been through it's not just physical injuries you need to sort out. I really wish you'd talk to me about it, because I want to help, you're my best friend."

"I know, and I appreciate that. But I don't need to talk about it – I did what I did, I saved a boys life, and I wouldn't do it any other way if I had the chance. Now," She said, ending the conversation. "You've been at work all night and I can see the tiredness in your eyes so I suggest you go home and get some sleep before work tonight."

Greg knew she was trying to get rid of him, and for once, he decided to respect her wishes. But he wasn't about to give in that easily. He'd be back, and with someway of opening her up, because until then, she wasn't going to get any better.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

That night Greg hatched a plan on how to get her to open up, and while he knew that he was going to cause her great pain, he knew that it was the only way to help her. His heart had almost broken at having seen her in the state she was in. He wanted to help mend her, so that morning after his shift, knowing that he didn't have work the next night which meant he needed to stay up for longer, he headed into the hospital with a mission.

She was back in the wheelchair he noticed, and looking even paler and more drawn and he felt his heart-strings pull. It amazed him how long she'd managed to hide her feelings from him, because he was really struggling even after only a couple weeks of knowing his true feelings, and it made him realise how strong willed she could be at times.

"Morning hon. How ya feeling this morning?"

She turned and gave him a weak smile.

"Hi. I'm good. The Doc says my wounds are healing nicely and that the stitches I had to have replaced haven't set me back by much."

"That's good news."

He pulled the chair up to where she was sitting by the window and took a seat next to her.

"The police rang Cath this morning." He said, putting his plan into action. "They mentioned about her statement about what happened. Now that you're awake they can go on with the court case. They'll probably be around soon to get your statement."

Her eyes darting away from him and out the window as she nodded.

"They said there's no rush though. They have enough evidence and statements to be getting on with, whenever you're ready they said."

She didn't reply. Something was welling inside her and she wasn't sure what it was.

"They've got the woman up in the psych ward at the moment. Apparently she's got quite severe depression and she lost her son recently." Greg saw Beth looking uncomfortable, her lips clamped together stopping something from escaping. "The boy's fine though, he was apparently the woman's son's best friend and she blamed him for some reason. Not that he had anything to do with her son's death, from what I've gathered. But I suppose you knew that from what the woman was saying to him that day."

Whatever he was doing, it was working. He could see Beth trying to suppress some emotions linked with his words, making her think about that day, that moment. Her eyes appeared to have a held back sheen as if she was forcing the tears back.

"We found out the gun had belonged to her husband who's also died a couple years back. I heard one Doctor saying that they should have taken her in long before she got this bad – then maybe none of this would have happened."

That seemed to do the trick as she looked down, her teeth biting into her lower lip. He said her name, once, twice, very gently as he leaned towards her.

She didn't reply, she couldn't, she was too scared to open her mouth in fear of what would come out. She couldn't lose control now, she had to keep herself together, keep herself strong to get through it. She didn't want to face it. She felt a warm touch on her arm and saw that he had placed his hand on her gently.

"Beth...it's okay to cry."

She knew that he knew, but tried to cover. She looked at him, a determination sweeping through her to prove she was okay, because she had to be, especially in front of him. She couldn't be the weak one, not after so long of being the strong one.

"I know, I'm fine."

She looked away.

"Beth, it's okay to cry."

He said, trying again.

"I know. I heard you."

She said not looking at him.

"No, I don't think you did. It's okay to cry, Beth."

She looked at him, angry that he was pushing her buttons, touching all the little places that only he seemed able to reach. It wasn't fair that he was using that against her now.

"I said I'm fine, Gregory."

She said a bit too strongly. Greg knew he'd almost hit the spot when he got his Sunday best name, something his parents used to do when he was in trouble. He ignored it and kept going, even though it was hurting him to do it.

"Beth...listen to me sweetheart, it's all right to cry."

"Stop it Greg! I get the picture! I'm fine, I'm okay! I just need some time, and peace and quiet!"

He ignored her request to be left alone and shook his head, repeating it again.

"It's okay to cry. It's okay to show your feelings."

"Stop it! Stop it!

He could see her wavering. Tears shining in her eyes. She pushed at his chest as he got closer, trying to get him to go away but he held himself still and strong, not taking his eyes off her. He took her hands in his, holding them tight to his chest.

"It's okay to cry." She tried to pull away from him. "It's okay to cry. It's okay to cry."

The tears started to fall against her will.

"I can't – I can't!"

It was too late, she was too far gone to pull herself back. He saw her give in, felt her arms stop pulling and her body start to sink in her seat and he leaned forwards and gently pulled her into him as best he could, using his strength to hold her tight to him as she started to cry out loud.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, let it out, let it out. Let everything out. I'm here, I'm here. I've got you. I've got you. Shh..."

He rocked her gently as she released all the pent-up emotions she'd trapped inside her, relieved that he'd finally gotten her to open up and he knew that it was the step she needed to get over everything.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It was quite some time later when Beth had finally calmed down, having let out all the pent up feelings. Greg pulled away and looked into her eyes. She looked up at him and gave him an appreciating, yet embarrassed smile.

"Better?"

She nodded.

"Thank you. I feel...lighter."

She said, trying to rub the remaining tears from her eyes. Greg pulled a pack of tissues out of his pocket and handed her one.

"You needed to face it before you could recover from it."

She nodded, using the tissue to wipe her eyes and made herself feel more presentable.

"I know, I know that now. I didn't think I needed to face anything, but I know now that I didn't want to because if I did it would make it real, you know? It wasn't real before, it hadn't really happened...But when you started talking about it, it made it real. I was really shot."

"Yes, you were."

He replied, even though he knew it had been a rhetorical question.

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Greg, you're my best friend."

This was the opening he'd been looking for, and while it was earlier than intended, he took it all the same.

"You could always go back to Africa and find out."

She looked at him with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"You handed in your notice didn't you? Said you were going back to Africa. Why? I thought you were happy here?"

"I am. Look, can we discuss this some other time?"

"Beth, you like living in Vegas, yes?"

"Yes – "

He butted in.

"And you like working at the hospital? You've got some good friends here?"

"Yes – "

He stopped her mid sentence again.

"So, why leave?"

She turned away from him in an obvious attempt to compose herself. She didn't need this now. She'd been managed to deal with her feelings about him okay up until now. Why'd he have to start questioning her motives?

"I still think there's things I can help with over there, they still need my help."

"Let someone else help. Beth, I could see how it affected you when you came back, it almost tore you apart being over there for so long, in all the chaos and suffering."

"Look, it's nothing, it doesn't matter now anyway."

Yes, it does.

He thought. He looked at her, staring out the window, and realised that now was the time.

"Why didn't you tell me I was in love with you."

It wasn't a question. It was the honest truth. He saw her freeze in place, then her eyes darted towards him in utter shock.

"What?"

He beamed a smile at her, and said in all honesty,

"I love you."

He took her hand again and lifted it to his lips, kissing her palm, then cradling it between his own two hands. Beth could do nothing but stare at him, completely speechless.

"But...but...you never noticed me...you saw never saw me like that..."

"How could I have been so blind, eh? Beth..."

He lifted one of his hands, cupped her chin and gently urged her towards him and into their first kiss. His lips tingled like electricity at the touch and he knew she could feel it too. A couple tears slid down her cheek as she was overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings that she couldn't process. Pulling back just enough, Greg looked at her again, a smile on his face. She tried to smile back through the happy tears with a small laugh and sniffed slightly. He laughed himself as he wiped away her tears.

"Aww, you silly thing." He said affectionately "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know how to tell you."

She said quietly.

"Tell me now."

She smiled at that.

"I love you."

They leaned in, their foreheads touching and just stayed that way, letting the happiness and love sweep through them both.

**Well? Would you like an epilogue, or do you think i should end it here? Any thoughts?**


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